


As We Are

by thalia_muse_of_comedy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-02-07 22:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21465346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalia_muse_of_comedy/pseuds/thalia_muse_of_comedy
Summary: A sweeping tale of our favorite dorks' years at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft & Wizardry. Beginning with best friends since forever, Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tooru. The question looming over their young heads: Is Tooru a squib, or not?
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru, More tags to be added - Relationship
Comments: 15
Kudos: 19





	1. Nooks and Crannies

**Author's Note:**

> This work has been over a year in the making. Shoutout to Garriesun for listening to me ramble about this au because they were kind enough to join me in sorting every single Haikyuu character (as of November 2018). It's amazing what cosplay and Universal Studios can bring out in a person.  
Like the tags say, this will encompass many pairings, but I won't be tagging them until their characters at least appear in the fic.  
Please come bug me at pinchserveprince on Tumblr or pinchserve12 on twitter.  


Iwaizumi Hajime couldn’t imagine his world without three things: the magic that ran through his veins and the beautiful world around him; the protection of the concealment charms that hid his tiny street from the view of muggles; and the one Oikawa Tooru, his best friend since forever. These three things weaved the fabric of his life, they intertwined and seemed inseparable. 

As Tooru’s ninth birthday loomed closer and closer, Hajime began to question whether or not the world would continue to spin if Tooru turned out to be a squib. Hajime had cast his first case of blatant accidental magic when he was four and desperate for a cookie. Yet for Tooru, the magic had been silent, unyielding to his calls. Overall, Hajime was not too worried. He figured Tooru would come into his magic in his own way and powerfully. Still, the lingering doubt cast a shadow on the hearts of everyone surrounding Tooru. 

For now, Hajime watched his best friend pretending to understand the charms textbook leftover from Tooru’s older sister’s years at Hogwarts.  
“Tooru, you can’t understand that at all, admit it,” Hajime teased. He wanted to do anything but sit here in this living room. Nearly anything, that is. He wouldn’t go outside; the June air already felt suffocating. 

Instead of taking the bait, however, Tooru sniffed and put his nose in the air, “You don’t know what I do and don’t understand, Hajime.” He stuck out his tongue for added effect.  
“You’re just jealous I can read this and you can’t,” Tooru added.

From his perch on the desk, Hajime could nearly read over Tooru’s shoulder as he propped the book on his knees. The text too far away from him, Hajime settled on playing with the stick he pretended was his wand. He leapt from the desk and brandished it around the living room with a series of slashes and flicks. 

After a couple minutes, Hajime heard Tooru close his book loud enough for Hajime to realize Tooru wanted attention. He turned to quip at his best friend, but stopped short when he saw the look of longing on Tooru’s face. His eyes were fixed on the stick Hajime held loosely in his hand. 

Hajime had seen Tooru make that face several times in the last couple of months as more and more of Tooru’s pureblood relatives tried to gauge Tooru’s aptitude for magic. Various aunts, uncles, and other distance relations trickled in and out for the occasional tea with Tooru’s mother. Since Hajime’s mother had been close to the Oikawa family from time immemorial, Hajime had been present as the visiting adulting watched Tooru with careful eyes. Most of them had kept their comments minimal, bringing books left over from their own children’s days at Hogwarts. 

However, others had tried to surprise Tooru into an act of magic, one uncle went as far as to trip Tooru when the two boys had been running through the house during some grand adventure. Tooru’s mother had flung a nasty bat bogey hex and told that uncle where he could stick his wand.  
Since then, the relatives had been few and far between, but Tooru seemed more self-conscious than ever. 

“Are you done trying to read that,” Hajime asked trying to pocket the stick.  
Tooru hopped off his chair and crossed the room to stand before Hajime, book still in hand. Tooru shrugged, “For now I guess. Though, what’s the point if I’m a squib anyway.”  
“What the hell? You’re not a squib,” Hajime retorted. 

Tooru put a hand over Hajime’s mouth and stage whispered, “Hajime! Don’t say bad words.”  
Hajime tried to talk around the hand over his mouth, but the noise came out as a series of hmmm’s.  
“What’s that? I can’t understand your potty mouth.”

Hajime licked Tooru’s hand, forcing him to jump back and wipe his hand on Hajime in disgust.  
“You’re such an animal, Hajime,” Tooru decided.  
“I’m not an animal,” Hajime huffed, taking the book from Tooru’s other hand, “and you’re not a squib.” He gave Tooru a mild thwap with the book for emphasis.

Before, Tooru would have laughed and hit Hajime back. Maybe they would have run through the house in a small game of tag, or perhaps they would try to wrestle until someone, usually Hajime’s mother, told them to take it outside. Instead, Tooru dug his now free hands into the fabric of his shirt. He turned his face down and stared at the floor. Bent over at the waist, Hajime tried to peer at Tooru’s eyes. He seemed close to tears. The past few months had stripped Tooru of his ability to wave away the thought of being a squib. 

The haunting “what if” of life at Hogwarts without Tooru settled back into his mind like an unwelcome traveler dragging his muddy boots into an inn. To Hajime, he figured life would start in earnest once he was at Hogwart, safely sorted into his house with Tooru. Though, it seemed that Hogwarts was the end of the line for Tooru. Unless he showed some spark of magic, Tooru would most likely not even make onto the train. But Hajime could not let his best friend think he was approaching the end of the line. 

“Tooru, you can’t be a squib. You’re a pureblood. The chances of you being a squib are…” but Hajime didn’t know the real chances. He believed in his young heart that Tooru could never be unmagical, so it had to be true. Hajime felt his convictions the same way he felt the magic.  
Tooru shook his head, “I’ve never done a single piece of magic, Hajime. What am I going to do?”  
“You still have two years unitl we’re 11! That’s still plenty of time to perform magic,” Hajime reasoned. He hated seeing Tooru so upset. It was a foreign feeling. In the past, he would know how to cheer up Tooru without much thought or effort. Their friendship was a simple as breathing. 

“What if I don’t ever show my magic? What if I don’t have any? What if I can’t go to Hogwarts? What if… what if my family gets rid of me and I never see you again,” Tooru asked. To Hajime, the words were ridiculous. Tooru’s family loved him fiercely. They could never let him go, right? The tears in his eyes were dripping down unto his light blue shirt, the droplets deepening the color.  
His own frustration mounting, Hajime grabbed Tooru’s shoulders and shook him saying, “They won’t leave you. I won’t leave you, not ever. We’ll always be together.”

Tooru raised his head and looked Hajime in the eyes for the first time since he had closed his book. His mouth with a squiggly line of pain and snot appeared to be threatening to leak out his nose. His tears were abetting, but his shoulders started to shake under Hajime’s hands.  
“Do you mean it,” Tooru asked with a small voice, his usual whine absent.  
“Yeah, you’re family loves you, you dumbass.”  
“No, I mean do you mean that you won’t leave me,” Tooru rephrased.  
Hajime nodded.  
“Hajime, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Do you promise you won’t leave me? Even if I am a squib? You’ll be my friend right?”  
“I already said so,” said Hajime. 

Tooru put one of his hands over one of Hajime’s. He took a few deep breaths before trying a small smile. Hajime still saw the lines of worry settled right above Tooru’s eyebrows.  
“If you’re a squib, on the odd tiny itty bitty chance you are a squib,” Hajime assured him, “I’ll stay by you and protect you. And if we both go to Hogwarts, I’ll stay by you and protect you from the people who are going to make fun of you for being such a nerd.”

Tooru huffed at being called a nerd, but his face cleared and his eyes sparkled. All the warm affection Hajime felt for his closest friend welled up inside of him. It felt like an emotion too big for his too small body, but the desire to protect this corner of the world he shared with Tooru thrummed inside him, too.  
Their joined hands on Tooru’s shoulder felt hotter than the summer room, than their own embarrassed cheeks. They quickly let go of each other and jumped a few feet apart. Their palms itched, but after a few tense moments, the heat faded. 

Hajime wondered if there had been some magic in the air, and if so, was it Hajime or Tooru who performed it?  
Before Hajime could think about it hard enough for steam to come out of his ears, Tooru had picked up the discarded charms book off the floor. He surveyed the weight of it in his palm before swinging it to smack Hajime with it. The book hitting Hajime’s body made a satisfying thunk noise. The shoulder Tooru had hit stung.

“Tooru, you better start running now,” Hajime explained, “because I’m gonna shove that damn book down your throat.”  
Tooru gave a squeal of delight and terror before dropping the book once more and shot out of the living room like a bullet from a muggle gun. Instead of picking up the weapon of a Charms book, Hajime took off right after him, into the afternoon sun and into the future.


	2. Pre-sorting Jitters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calm before the storm perhaps?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this bit has been sitting in my drafts for a thousand years. I figure that I can keep up my tradition of unbearably short chapters. Please harass me at pinchserveprince on Tumblr or pinchserve12 on twitter.

Two blazing summers later, Tooru turned 11. The worries of friends and families had been quietly shoved away by odd acts of small, accidental magic. A falling glass of milk stopped in time here, a slammed door from anger there had been enough to convince everyone, most importantly Tooru, that he was magical.

As Tooru and Hajime nursed their stomach aches after eating too much cake and ice cream at Tooru’s birthday party, they sprawled out on the carpet of the Oikawa’s living room.  
They talked about their excitement for the coming fall. “When you do think we’ll get our letters,” Hajime asked. Whenever Hajime had asked his mother about it, she’d shooed him away and told him to stop growing up so fast. Unlike Tooru, Hajime was an only child, so he didn’t really have anyone else he could ask. 

Sensing his superiority of the moment, Tooru sat up and puffed out his chest, “My sister said she got her letter right before August. We’re almost there!” Tooru whooped and shook Hajime excitedly.  
“Stop, if I puke, I’m telling your mother you did it,” Hajime warned, “she’d believe me over you.”  
“You’re just too cruel, Hajime,” Tooru whined, but he stopped.  
Instead, he resumed his prone position on the floor with his best friend. 

“What house do you think you’ll be in,” Hajime asked. No longer facing the ceiling, he turned on his side to watch Tooru think about his answer. Tooru’s eyes were bright. Since the fear of being a squib had passed, he had been all smiles.  
“I don’t really know. They all seem a little weird,” Tooru supposed. He began to count on his fingers, “the Gryffindors sound too conceited; the Ravenclaws seem boring, like they wouldn’t know how to have fun; the Hufflepuffs… what are they even about? Being nice? I guess I’m nice, but no-”  
“You are not nice,” Hajime interrupted. Tooru retaliated with a good kick at Hajime.

“Anway,” Tooru continued, satisfied with the minor beating, “Hufflepuffs may be just as boring as the Ravenclaws. And the Slytherins…” The two boys dramatically shuddered. The uncle that had tripped Tooru had been a Slytherin. As far as Hajime and Tooru were concerned, Slytherins had to be mean.  
“They’re too stuck up,” Tooru decided, “probably.”  
He shrugged as he finished his speech and volleyed the question back to Hajime.

For a moment, Hajime was quiet. His mother had been in Gryffindor, and she wasn’t conceited. She was fierce; she was kind; and she never seemed to be afraid of anything.  
“Gryffindor, feels like a good fit,” he reasoned, “but I guess you never know until they put the hat on you.”  
Tooru nodded along. The future was hard to predict. If you had asked Tooru two years ago what house he wanted to be sorted into, he would have broken down in tears from fear.  
“I hope we’ll be in the same house, then,” Tooru decided, poking Hajime’s side, “I could put up with some Gryffindors for you.”

“You’d be one of those Gryffindors,” Hajime reminded him, escalating the poking war into a pinching one. Tooru attacked Hajime with a pinch, as well.  
“I think they’d be putting up with you, not the other way around,” Hajime said.  
Tooru gave a dramatic gasp, a hand over his heart for a split second before resuming his kicks against Hajime’s legs, “How dare you, I’m a joy to be around.”  
“Whatever you say,” Hajime conceded before taking the war to the brink by punching Tooru a few times in the leg and running away from the living room, laughing.  
“Get back here Hajime,” Tooru yelled, trying to stand, but the nerves in his leg were temporarily out of order. Tooru counted to ten, before tearing through the house after Hajime.

September 1st found Tooru and Hajime on the Hogwarts express, crammed into a carriage with several others. They were sitting so close together that their shoulders seemed glued together. The train rolled past bright green hills and smatterings of tall, ancient trees.

Hajime felt like he was leaving behind his old world for another, older one. For the next few months, he would be without the small, hidden street they called home. Despite the uncertainty mixing in his stomach, he knew he would always have magic. He felt the new wand inside the robes he had changed into as soon as he and Tooru had claimed their seats in the carriage. A wand of Sycamore had chosen him, 12 ½ inches with dragon heartstring.

Tooru and Hajime had gone together with their parents on the same day for all of their shopping. At Flourish and Blotts, Tooru had complained about the boring list of books, and Hajime had called him a nerd for having already read them anyway. When they had entered the wand shop, Tooru had tried out piles and piles of wands. With each new batch of wands the seller had pulled from the shelves, Tooru had grown more and more tense.  
Before Hajime could think of something to say, Tooru’s mother had placed a hand on her son’s shoulder, “I went through 20 wands myself before finding the one. It’s okay if it takes time, Tooru.”  
Tooru had breathed deeply and met Hajime’s eyes. All he could offer was a nod. They would take as long as Tooru needed.

Eventually, Tooru found a wand that made flowers bloom out of the tip when he waved it the way the seller had instructed him. Everyone had breathed a sigh of relief, but Oikawa held the Hazel wand to his chest and closed his eyes.  
At that moment, Hajime had wondered if Tooru would always be afraid magic didn’t belong to him in the same ways it belonged to other wizards. Then, Tooru had smiled, and the cloud over them had disappeared.

For now, Tooru looked more relaxed in the train carriage than Hajime felt. Tooru had his head bent together with another first year to his left with a wild bed head. A cat carrier sat between his feet on the floor. Every time the train jostled slightly, he leaned over to rest a hand on the top of the carrier with the hand that wasn’t holding the charms textbook he had open.  
“You know, Kuroo,” Tooru addressed the other boy with a small grin, “if you think this stuff is too easy, I brought a few of my sister’s charm books. They’re in my trunk, but I can loan them to you if you want.”  
Kuroo flashed his own sharp smile at Tooru, “yeah, I don’t know about too easy, but I have a feeling I’m going to like Charms class.” The train swayed as they felt it round a bend. Kuroo placed his hand on the cat carrier.

As he was bent over, he caught Hajime watching him. Kuroo looked away quickly and sat back up, closing the book.  
Tooru noted the change in his new friend’s demeanor and said, “What’s your cat’s name?”  
Hajime saw pink creep into Kuroo’s face and reach his ears. Kuroo ran a hand through his messy hair and said, “Black matter.”  
Tooru raised an eyebrow, “Oh, so the little one is a black cat? Excellent, the best kind of cat.”  
Kuroo nodded, “when I learned about black holes during science last year in school, I thought it was a good name for a cat.”  
Tooru clapped his hands together in excitement, “are you a muggleborn?”  
“Not that it matters,” half the car chimed in at the same time.

“Just curious. Hajime’s a half blood, himself. But he didn’t go to a muggle school because his mom-”  
“No one asked, Tooru,” Hajime smacked him.  
Kuroo watched them pinch each other a few times before Tooru redirected his attention back to him.  
“I’m a half-blood, actually. My mom thought it’d be a good idea for me to go to a muggle school until it was time for Hogwarts,” Kuroo told them.  
“Wasn’t it hard, though? What if you accidentally did magic? All those Muggles would know,” Tooru asked.

Kuroo shrugged, “I didn’t do any accidental magic until last year. I think it would have been worse if I wasn’t in a muggle school, my dad figured I might be more like him, non magic.”  
Hajime was shocked. Kuroo had been even older than Tooru was, but he didn’t seem like he had been as worried about it. Maybe it was the dual up-bringing.

“See Tooru, you-” but Hajime stopped short when he saw the cold look Tooru gave him as soon as he opened his mouth.  
“You’re tie is crooked,” Hajime changed what he was going to say and reached to fix Tooru’s already straight tied.  
Tooru smacked his hand away, “Hajime, are you my mom?”  
Hajime aimed a flick at Tooru’s ear, “Sometimes you act like I am.”  
“Hmmmm nope, that’s all you,” Tooru sang.

The boys froze as they felt the train slow as they came into the station at Hogwarts. The screech of the brakes signaled their time in a bubble of the in-between was finally coming to an end.  
Kuroo had been the first to move as he scooped his beloved cat carrier into his arms. He rose to his feet and opened the door to their carriage.  
In the corridors of the emptying train, the boys watched students of all ages emerge. The tallest had to be seventh years. They seemed like different creatures, so far removed. Their robes rippled with touches of their house colors. 

Kuroo felt afraid with all of these older kids towering before him. Despite the stories his mother told him of her years at Hogwarts, he couldn’t bring himself to be as calm as other boys in his carriage had seemed. He longed to feel as steady as Iwaizumi seemed . Iwaizumi was a half-blood like Kuroo, but he had obviously grown up with a greater proximity to the magical world that Kuroo now envied.  
The unknown beckoned Kuroo forward as the train gave an impatient whistle. As the shrill tone pierced his ears, Kuroo decided he had to know what lay beyond the comforting warmth of carriage.

He stepped out into the corridor and straight into someone else. He felt the impact rather than saw the person he hit. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly while looking around. The young boy on the floor made a disgusted noise. His short, sandy hair was cowlicked in several places. He looked up at Kuroo with a quirked eyebrow and a frown.  
Kuroo thought about offering to help the boy up, but his arms were full with Black Matter’s carrier.  
“Yeah, whatever,” the fallen boy responded, picking himself off the floor, “just watch where you’re going next time.”  
As he walked away and eventually bled into the throngs of students making their way out of the train, Oikawa and Iwaizumi poked their heads out of the train carriage.  
Kuroo turned them, his thumb pointing in the direction the other boy had disappeared in, “I guess I met my first Slytherin.”

Kuroo’s comment made Tooru feel funny. He wasn’t sure what kind of people are placed in Slytherin house. His family tree, for example, was a splatter of house colors. His mother had been in Ravenclaw, and his father and sister were both products of Gryffindor. Yes, the uncle who tried to hurt him had been in Slytherin, but so had his mother’s mother and father, who were always generous with their time and affection.

Despite comments Tooru and Hajime had made about Slytherins earlier this summer, they both understood people’s hearts vary greatly.  
As the group made their way down the corridor and out of the train, Tooru wondered what traits the sorting hat would use as the reason for his sorting. Would his advanced knowledge of charms place him in Ravenclaw? Could his dedication to Hajime lend him toward Gryffindor? He hoped the bond between him and Hajiime would win out.

Outside of the train, the older students tapered off from the tiny, wide-eyed first years. They disappeared out a gate and out of Tooru’s sight.


	3. The Sorting Hat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this third chapter! This is the end of the writing that I had stocked up so... I make no promises of when the next chapter will be. If you like this fic, please drop a kudos or maybe even a comment! Subscribe! We're in for the long hall on this fic because it will cover all of Iwaoi's years and almost all of kagehina's years. I preserved most of the age gaps, but some have been modified for the sake of filling out the houses and classes.

The Great hall opened before the first years like a cavern deep beneath the earth. The glow of the floating candles could not reach the corners of the room, and the windows could have been pieces of paper stuck against the walls.  
To Hajime, the room felt special and ordinary. The students seated at the four long tables craned their necks to see the new students, like typical curious children.  
Like they had been on the train, the older students wore ties and bore crests of their house colors. Except now, they were grouped by these colors, creating a black sea with splashes of blue, green, yellow, and scarlet.  
Hajime looked away from the students he would soon join and noticed the large stool situated between the student tables and the professors’ high table.On top of the stool, sat a large, tattered hat.  
Kuroo, at the head of their trio, steered them far away from the spitfire first year from the train. They settled into the left most corner of the group, unable to see the seated professors.  
The professor that had greeted them when they left the boats on the lake, Professor Keishin, greeted them once more in front of the student body, “welcome to the Great Hall. As I explained earlier, you will now be sorted into your houses. As I call your names, please come sit on the stool, and I will place the sorting hat on your head.”  
As he finished, Hajime could have sworn he saw the hat wiggle on the stool. More than a small amount of fear finally touched Hajime’s heart.

His heartbeat picked up as Tooru put their hands together. He had momentarily forgotten he was not alone. And, he never would be alone, as long as Tooru was there to give him strength.  
Professor Keishin patted down his robes, searching for something. His blond head bobbed with the movement as he cursed quietly.  
One of the professors at the high table sucked on their tooth, but soon a scroll appeared before Profesor Keishin. He took it in his hands and mumbled a quick, quiet thanks. 

He unrolled the scroll with his head held high and read out the first name, “Aone Takanobu.” The silence was heavy like enough sand to fill 100 hourglasses. For a while, no one moved.  
The crowd of first years looked around waiting for the first child to come forth. From the direct center of the group came a quiet sigh, followed by a sturdy smack. The people closest to the noise jumped and moved away from the middle. A boy with close cropped hair and a stern face emerged out of the sea of students. 

Professor Keishin walked beside Aone up the few steps to the stool and picked up the hat so Aone could sit down.  
The hat came down on Aone’s head and a voice spoke near his ear, “hello, you must be this year’s first child,” it said, shocking Aone stiff. Hajime heard Aone whisper back and the old hat laughed, “hardly anyone thinks to greet me back.”  
Aone’s blank face scrunched up with concern and replied loudly, “well, that’s a shame.”  
The hat gave another hearty laugh and announced his decision loudly, “Hufflepuff!”

Cheers erupted from the table with Yellow crests. As Aone walked towards his new house, a voice from the center of the first years called out, “hey Suna, you owe me 10 sickles.” This time, Hajime craned his head to see who had spoken. 

The student wore a huge grin and a crooked tie. How his clothes had become so rumpled so soon after he had adorned them, Hajime couldn’t fathom. A few of the surrounding girls giggled behind their hands as the boy held out his hand for the sickles from the tired looking boy Hajime guessed was Suna.

The whoops and calls from Hufflepuff’s table died out as Professor Keishin cleared his throat and called out the next name.  
“Azumane Asahi.”

Once more, the room fell to a hush, but the absolute, reverent silence from before was broken. Hajime could hear the older students at their tables waiting to welcome the next first year.  
From the back of the group, a boy that towered over the rest of the group sheepishly began weaving his way to the front. His long legs carried him up the steps with ease. He sat down on the stool and braced his hands on his knees as Professor Keishin placed the hat upon Azumane’s head.

The moment the hat touched the top of Azumane, it announced, “Hufflepuff,” in a booming voice.  
Once more, the yellow table burst forth into cheers and the lanky blond beside Aone at their table made room for their newest addition. 

With two wildly different boys sorted into the same house, Hajime figured the chances of two people as different and he and Tooru also had a good chance at the same house.  
Hajime made to release Tooru’s hand, but Tooru clamped down tighter. Hajime turned his head toward Tooru to tell him to let go, but he stopped when he saw Tooru worrying his lip between his teeth. It wasn’t a good look on Tooru, so Hajime pinched Tooru’s arm with his free hand.  
Tooru smacked Hajime without looking at him, but he stopped chewing on his lip. 

“Iwaizumi Hajime,” Professor Keishin announced to the room, lifting the hat off the stool.  
Hajime felt his heartbeat quicken; he was certain everyone else could hear it. In his hand, Tooru’s grip weaken, but the other boy did not let go. Hajime released Tooru’s hand and approached the stool without a glance back. 

He understood why Azumane had seemed so shaky on his feet. Hajime felt pinned down by every eye in the great hall as he walked up the steps to the sorting hat.  
Professor Keishin nodded at Hajime to encourage him before he took his seat. He faced the waiting students. The Gryffindors were jostling each other much like Hajime and Tooru would when they got excited. The Ravenclaws and Slytherins eyed him up and down with whispers behind closed hands. The Hufflepuffs, in their beautiful, bright yellow ties were the most relaxed. They were still cooing over their cool new additions. Their smiles and soft giggles made the silence more bearable. 

“Gryffindor!” the hat exclaimed. The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers and laughter as Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. He had been sorted into his mother’s house.  
Professor Keishin lifted the hat off his head and he ran to his new family, happy to see his world expanding more and more. Older students clapped him on the back as he took his seat. A flurry of introductions began, but Hajime heard none of them as Professor Keishin read the next name on his scroll.

“Oikawa Tooru.”  
Tooru met Hajime’s eyes across the room. He watched as Kuroo whacked Tooru on the back before he left the herd of wide-eyed first years. Tooru approached the stool, looking like he was trying to be brave.  
Hajime had no doubt in his mind: surely Tooru would be placed into Gryffindor. Hajime knew no one with more courage than Tooru. He had faced his fears again and again. He was always willing to try new games and answered every new challenge.

Tooru sat uncomfortably on the stool and the hat cooed at him, “let’s have a look at you; the Oikawa family is always so hard to sort.”  
Hajime watched as the hat and Tooru whispered back and forth for one minute, for two minutes. Tooru made a pained face, but soon his mouth hung agape. After the third minute, Tooru’s mouth had become a hard line of determination. On the stool, he nodded, the hat bobbing with him slightly before yelling out to the Great Hall.

“Slytherin!”


	4. The Sorting Hat Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Houses, New Friends, New Worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, really left you guys hanging for a while there. Shoutout to the Kagehina Big Bang server for inspiring me to work on my projects. Thank you to my betas for reading through this goop. Bother me on tumblr, pinchserveprince, or on twitter, pinchserve12.  
As we see more and more people in their Hogwarts Houses, it’s fine if you put characters in different Houses than me, but I am also not here to debate my choices. Most of them were based on personality traits I saw. A few lesser known characters are in each house as filler. I basically sorted every character up to Inarizaki.  
Thank you so much for reading! Next chapter will be sooner than six months hahaha

Hajime letting go of his hand made Tooru feel unmoored. Tooru felt the stark contrast of before and after as Hajime made his way to the sorting hat. His heartbeat raced as Professor Keishin placed the hat on top of Hajime’s head. 

On the stool, Hajime looked uncomfortable. The hat swallowed the top of his head; the brim ended just above his eyes. His hands were at his sides. The sorting was over so quickly he didn’t have time to clasp them together or dig them into the stool to hold on for dear life.

The sorting hat called out Gryffindor, and Hajime’s face lit up as he ran to embrace his house. What felt like an eternity spread out before Tooru as he watched the Gryffindor house embrace Hajime back. 

Something hit Tooru on his back. He turned his gaze back to Professor Keishin and the sorting hat in his hand. His name had been called, but he had missed it.

Tooru straightened his spine and tried to walk to the stool with a level head. The stool had seemed bigger from further away, but the eyes on him made him feel small. Professor Keishin sat the hat on his head; it slid down over his eyebrows, obscuring the top of his vision. 

Before he could search for Hajime, the hat spoke, a touch louder than he had with the others, “let’s have a look at you; the Oikawa family is always so hard to sort.”

Tooru’s stomach dropped. The tapestry of his family’s houses filled his mind. Why couldn’t it be as easy as sorting Hajime? Had Hajime’s mother and father been as simple? 

“I see,” the hat whispered for only Tooru’s ears, “that attachment, your loyalty to your friend, should be admired.”

“So-“

“But would you cling to him forever? Would you use him as a shield against the world? Hogwarts is a place for challenges,” the hat mused.

Tooru felt his face warming from the invasion of his thoughts. With the hat’s words, doubt came in. Hajime had been with him through everything up to this point. He had believed in Tooru when everyone else doubted him, but would Tooru seek out that comfort forever?

“Gryffindor sounds like a challenging place to be,” Tooru reasoned with the sorting hat.

“Full of people who want to save others without thinking about their own goals, maybe,” the hat offered, “or perhaps not. Do you want to bank on you being right?”

In his mind’s eye he could see the days rushing past him without worry, safely encircled in the family Hajime just found. People who knew his worth; people who would fight for him. 

“If iron sharpening iron is what you’re looking for,” the hat said after reading the impressions of Tooru’s thoughts, “I think you belong in a different house. You want to know your worth, why have others define that for you? Why not discover the answer for yourself? Beside people who will rally to you when your need is great? With fellow students who are also striving, also seeking?”

This intrigued Tooru, his mouth falling open for a moment. For the first time really considering the hat’s suggestions instead of trying to fight them. A house that would help him stand on his own?

“But not Hajime’s house,” Tooru asked the hat.

“Your time at Hogwarts is short. Your friend will be with you longer than that, no? Wouldn’t you like to feel like his equal, Oikawa Tooru?”

Tooru once more thought of how his days at Hogwarts would look. Being in different houses didn’t mean not being best friends. Tooru could meet other people, like how Hajime befriended Kuroo so effortlessly. Hajime would still be there, mixed in with everyone. And Tooru saw inside his heart that he would find a way to hide in Gryffindor, just as the sorting hat had said.

“So you’re fine with the house I’ve picked,” the hat asked, sincere for a piece of cloth. Tooru nodded, feeling the hat slide further down his head.

“Slytherin!”

Professor Keishin removed the hat from Tooru’s head, and the full light of the Great Hall hit Tooru with force. At the opposite end of the room from Hajime’s table sat the cheering Slytherin table. The beautiful green and silver of their ties and crests shimmered like summer grass. 

As he walked by Hajime’s table, Tooru couldn’t bring himself to look up at his best friend. The Slytherin immediately brought Tooru into their fold. A string of “hellos” and “hurrays” met him as people shook his hand and patted him on the back. 

After the initial hurricane welcome, the older students made room for Tooru to sit beside a young man with spiky hair. Tooru noticed the shiny silver badge on his robe and realized he was sitting beside one of the Slytherin prefects.

“Oikawa Tooru, right,” the young man asked, pausing for Tooru to nod in assent, “happy to have you in Slytherin, I’m Ezota Naoharu. Sixth year.” Tooru greeted him, but his heart wasn’t in it.

When Tooru had decided to trust the sorting hat’s suggestion, he didn’t think he would be placed in Slytherin. It was the one house he had never considered for himself. What kind of people had he chosen to surround himself with? What did Hajime think of him, now that Tooru was One of  _ Them _ ?

Another cheer erupted from his table, black robes covered Tooru’s line of sight as they welcomed their newest first year. Craning to see, a flash of silver caught Tooru’s eyes. 

The boy was grinning, returning the warm welcome he was receiving. He looked everyone in the face, shining with confidence that Tooru couldn’t begin to fake. 

The person on Tooru’s right gave him a light tug, and he scooted over to make room for the silver haired boy beside the prefect. Tooru supposed this was the flow of the sorting. Maybe by this time next year, he would be able to follow this rhythm.

After a brief introduction with the prefect, the silver hair boy turned to Tooru. “I didn’t think I’d see such a long hat stall, but I was pleasantly surprised,” he said.

Tooru’s first instinct was to be offended, did the other boy mean to offend him? However, after a pause, Tooru decided to make nice instead, “The hat and I both have strong opinions, I guess.”

“That’s what I figured. My parents told me most people don’t fight the hat. Their loss, I suppose.”

“Sometimes they don’t have the chance, right? You saw how fast it sorted Hajime,” Tooru volleyed back.

“The boy standing next to you? What was his name? Imami Hajime?”

“Iwaizumi,” Tooru corrected, sitting up straighter, “we grew up together.” 

“And now you’re in rival houses? Ouch.”

“It’s not as bad as it once was,” the girl Tooru’s right assured him, “ the rivalry, I mean. We mostly keep it on the quidditch pitch… mostly.”

She was tall for her baby face, her long hair flowing like a river.

“I’m Haiba Alisa,” she smiled at Tooru, “I’m only a third year, but I’d like to think I’m nicer than most at the table,” a scoff further down the table interrupted her. She continued, “ so don’t be afraid to ask me questions, okay?”

Tooru nodded back at her, but catalogued the scoff for analysis later. With the topic of introductions on his mind, he said to the boy beside him, “I missed your name when they called earlier.” 

“I’m Sugawara Koushi.”

“Nice to meet you Sugawara.”

Professor Keishin listed name after name as the rest of the first years were sorted. Each table cheered as they gained new members of their family. Tooru wondered if they would be given house crests for their robes or if the robes were enchanted. He didn’t remember if he had ever asked his sister about it. An oversight on his part.

Just as he was about to ask Haiba, Professor Keishin called out “Yaku Morisuke.” The cowlicked boy from the train stepped out of the small group of students waiting to be sorted. Once he was upon the stool, his intense eyes scanned the crowd. 

Whatever the hat said to Yaku, Tooru couldn’t hear. After a minute of silence, he wondered if they were now witnessing the second hat stall of the night. 

Instead, the hat quickly announced Yaku belonged in Slytherin. Tooru internally groaned, but said nothing. Anyway, no one would have heard him over the still enthusiastic cheers. 

Once Yaku settled into his seat beside Ezota, a hush blanketed the Great Hall. All of the students turned their attention to the professors’ high table. At the center of the table, the eldest professor stood. He had short-cropped silver hair; his eyes and smile spoke of mischief. 

Based on what his sister had told him, the professor had to be Headmaster Ukai.

“Good evening and welcome back to all the returning students,” Headmaster Ukai began, sweeping his arms as if to embrace the entire room, “And welcome to the new first years that have just now joined the great tradition of Hogwarts. Since the year of your birth, perhaps one could say even before that, the professors and staff here at Hogwarts have been awaiting you.”

The smile dropped from the Headmaster’s face, “as a final piece of that preparation, you have been sorted into your houses. You have been given a new family, but make no mistake, the whole of Hogwarts is your home. The whole of the student body is your family.

“Tonight is the first night to strengthen and form your bonds with your family. Enjoy the feast and be ready for classes in the morning. Let’s eat!”

Every student yelled back “let’s eat” as soon as platters and platters of food appeared before them. There were dishes Tooru had never seen before, and he decided he would try as much as his stomach could handle. 

He never saw himself as a picky eater, but Tooru found that most of the food didn’t suit him. Every time he picked at something on his plate, though, Sugawara would swoop in and eat it right off Tooru’s plate.

“Suga-chan, that’s kind of gross,” Tooru told him after the first time.

“Not as gross as wasting food, right,” Sugawara said before popping some strange substance into his mouth.

“If you don’t want him eating your food, you should tell him off right now,” the owl-eyed redhead beside Sugawara chimed in. “Or maybe you should swat him, like a seagull.”

Tooru could hear Ezota scoff at Tendou, but the prefect said nothing.

“Are you going to hit me, Oikawa,” Sugawara asked, trying to juggle puppy eyes aimed at Oikawa and his fork’s search for more discarded food.

Tooru tried to keep his face straight as he said, “ _ No, not ever,  _ aren’t we going to be friends?” 

Distracted, Sugawara didn’t notice Tooru had stolen a whole piece of chicken off of Sugawara’s plate until it was too late.

“I’d be scared to have a friend like that,” Tendou concluded, but his nod showed that he approved of Tooru’s thievery. 

Throughout dinner, Tooru kept a steady conversation with Sugawara and the twins sitting across from them. Like Sugawara and Tooru, the twins were playing their own game of stealing each other’s food. Though, Tooru felt that the twins' battle was birthed from sibling competition rather than helping each other get rid of undesired food. 

If it had been Hajime, Tooru knew both motivations would be the foundation of the squabbling. 

Thinking of his best friend, Tooru stood up and craned his neck. The Gryffindor table sat on the opposite end of the Great Hall. As he strained, he thought he saw Hajime’s spiky hair.

Suddenly, a goblet broke on his left. Someone yelled profanities. Turning toward the commotion, Tooru saw Yaku covered in pumpkin juice, his face scrunched up and his eyebrows drawn downward.

“I thought they’d be smart enough to charm the dinnerware to be unbreakable, but I guess this is more fun,” Tendou said, leaning toward Sugawara. 

Ezota took out his wand to fix the mess, but Yaku yelled, “I don’t need your help!” At his outburst, the Slytherin table fell quiet. Haiba tugged on Tooru’s sleeve to get him to sit down.

As soon as Tooru was seated once more, Haiba stood up and walked over to Yaku. Tooru watched as Haiba grabbed Yaku’s pumpkin covered shoulders and turned him around.

Haiba looked down at the first year, her expressions warm but her smile tight. “He’s the prefect,” Haiba told him, “he's supposed to help you. Best to learn to accept help now and from people who should care about you, yes?”

A blush slowly made its way from Yaku’s neck to his cheeks and settled at the tips of his ears. He nodded and apologized to Ezota. 

Haiba ruffled his hair and returned to her seat. Tooru told her about the collision between Kuroo and Yaku on the train, and she laughed.

“I guess he really is just the easily embarrassed type. That’s no good,” she exclaimed, still buoyed from her laughter. “Being shameless is the best way to be, don’t you think? Then we won’t be afraid of what we want,” Haiba explained.

Tooru felt like he could understand what she meant. He had seen that in Sugawara. Tendou had encouraged it in him. Maybe, that shamelessness was a piece of the Slytherin ambition. 

“You’re so smart, Haiba,” one of the twins told her.

“I can’t take any credit for it,” she conceded, “my little brother taught me that.”


	5. In the Charms Classroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first class Iwaizumi and Oikawa share is joint charms class with Gryffindor and Slytherin... what could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for bringing this fic to nearly 4,000 hits... that’s incredible to me, and I didn’t think I would ever reach this kind of a milestone so early into a fic!
> 
> I may try to squeeze out one more first year chapter before switching to Hinata, but if not, I’ll be back next week with Hinata! 
> 
> Please kudos and subscribe if you like the fic. Drop a comment if the spirit moves you, hehe.  
Bug me on tumblr pinchserveprince or twitter at pinchserve12.  
Enjoy!

Still reeling from a long night spent talking in his dorm in Gryffindor Tower, Hajime ran to reach his first class of the day. He felt like he was fighting against time, and the castle map in his hands seemed to be useless. He should have gotten out of bed when Kamasaki urged him to join them for breakfast. Unfortunately, the extra 30 minutes of sleep was too tempting.

Of course, he regretted that when he woke up to find no one else left in the tower. The common room’s fireplace popped and crackled when last night, the roaring fire could not be heard over the whoops and screams of excited children.

On the way out of the feast in the Great Hall, Hajime had spotted Tooru walking with the Slytherins. He was beaming up at the tall girl he had been sitting next to during the sorting and dinner. Hajime had wanted to check to see if Tooru was doing fine behind that smile, but the Gryffindors had been pulled up the stairs as the Slytherins flowed down and down and down into parts of the castle Hajime couldn’t see.

In the seconds he wasn’t worrying about getting to class on time, Hajime still worried about Tooru. He wasn’t sure if Tooru felt like he belonged at Hogwarts just yet. If Tooru still had a hard time feeling like magic was his by now, would he ever feel okay about it? 

Hajime breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Daichi’s voice coming from down the hall. He followed it to an open classroom. It was filled with two-seater desks lined up in neat rows. At the front of the room stood a massive blackboard. Hajime wasn’t sure how the professor would manage to write on a space so out of reach, but magic could make anything happen. As long as one knew the right spell.

Inside, Hajime scanned the room looking for his new friends. His eyes caught on the familiar swirls of Tooru’s hair. Hajime walked over to his best friend, hoping they could sit together.

“Too-,” he began to call out, but he stopped when he noticed the seat next to Tooru was taken by a silver haired boy. Something pricked Hajime in the heart.

Hearing Hajime’s voice, Tooru turned around to beam at him.

“Hajime, you’re here,” Tooru said, “I was wondering if you were ever going to show. I didn’t know we had charms together until I saw…” His sentence drifted off as he looked to the silver boy beside him.

“Suga-chan, what was that one’s name? The Gryffindor that sat with us at breakfast, Mr. Serious?”

“Sawamura,” he offered.

Tooru snapped his fingers and pointed at “Suga-chan.”

“Sawamura came in with his friend, so I was all like ‘yay Hajime’s coming too!’ But you never showed up and-“

The door to the classroom slammed, making all of the first years jump. Hajime turned to the door behind him. The books in the professor’s arms were stacked so high, Hajime couldn’t see his face. 

As the professor passed Hajime he said, “Iwaizumi, find a seat please.” Truthfully, Hajime was shocked the professor could even tell he was there. 

Hajime looked around the classroom and saw an open seat back near the door, where a redheaded boy had just sat down. Seeing that as his only real option, Hajime sat next to him. 

After a small nod to each other, Hajime turned his attention to the professor setting up at the front. The professor wore glasses and a thoughtful expression as he counted the books and scanned the room.

A small movement next to Hajime made him look at the redhead. By Hajime’s left hand sat a small piece of candy. A tiny bit of parchment sat underneath it.

_ I’m Tendou, nice to meet you.  _

Hajime took the candy and looked at Tendou for assurance that it was alright to eat it. Tendou nodded enthusiastically and Hajime unwrapped the candy. He was happy to see it was some kind of milk chocolate. He popped it into his mouth.

Within a second, Hajime felt his jaw tighten. He tried to open his mouth to ask Tendou if sour chocolate candy is even a thing and why would anyone ever eat it, but his top and bottom teeth felt like they were stuck together. 

Tendou looked slightly confused, since Hajime did not appear to be enjoying the piece of chocolate. Instead of speaking, Hajime had to resort to humming emphatically at Tendou. 

Tendou’s eyebrows shot up, and he asked, “Can you speak?”

Hajime shook his head, anger spiking. Why did this weirdo give me enchanted chocolate. Was it because Hajime was a Gryffindor? 

“I must have mixed up the pockets I put the candies in,” Tendou whined, holding out the last syllable for a while. 

From the front of the classroom, the Professor began introducing himself.

“I’m Professor Takeda, and I’ll be your charms instructor from now until the end of your fifth, your seventh year if you choose to take the higher level charms class.” 

“I didn’t think anything of it. Ushijima didn’t seem to have a problem with the candies. I wish he would have said something,” Tendou explained.

In contrast to Hajime’s increasing panic, Tendou viewed him as a researcher who observes their subject in the wild.

Hajime tried to speak again, but he could only project his voice through his throat.

“I’d appreciate your attention during class,” the professor warned.

“Does he have super hearing,” Tendou wondered aloud.

“I wouldn’t need it, Tendou, now please let me at least get to the syllabus,” Professor Takeda said. He flicked his wand and papers went flying out to each table. 

Hajime blew air out his nose, trying to calm down. As soon as the syllabus settled in front of him, he took out his quill and ink and wrote on the parchment,  _ how long is this supposed to last? _

Hajime scooted the question over for Tendou to read. Tendou looked from the parchment to Hajime and back again. He shrugged as a way of answer, only frustrating Hajime more.

“I think the package said 40 minutes to an hour, so I guess we just hope the professor doesn’t call on you?”

Hajime wasn’t sure he would respond to that even if he could. Instead, he beat his head lightly on the desk. This wasn’t how he imagined his first class at Hogwarts would go, not by a long shot. 

  
  


—-

Tooru was surprised Hajime had caused the Professor to scold him more than once, but that was probably Tendou’s influence. He had only known Tendou for less than a day, but he could sense that the boy had an odd sense of humor. 

From where Tooru sat with Sugawara, he couldn’t check on Hajime as much as he would have liked. The one time he was able to sneak a peek at him, Hajime had his face down on the desk. Strange behavior for someone who had skipped out on breakfast to sleep. Maybe after class they would have time to talk, and Tooru could give him the muffin he had nabbed for him at breakfast.

Tooru studied the syllabus Professor Takeda had handed out. As Tooru had suspicioned, he had read through these texts already. Moving up a class would be lonely. Most likely not even allowed, if Tooru was realistic about it. Maybe he could talk to Professor Takeda anyway, just to see what his options were. 

Tooru sighed, causing Sugawara to look at him. Perhaps sensing how bored Tooru was, Sugawara flicked him on the back of his hand. 

Tooru retaliated by drawing an ugly cat on Sugawara’s syllabus.

“Weak sauce,” Sugawara judged him. 

“I’m a good student, I’m not going to be tricked by you, Suga-chan.”

“Anything you’d like to share with the class, Oikawa,” Professor Takeda called Tooru out.

Tooru smiled his best “Adults Can Never Tell Me No” smile and responded, “I was thinking out loud about how I should ask you so curriculum questions… after class, that is.”

“Raise your hand next time.”

“Yes sir,” Tooru agreed. Relieved, Tooru turned his body as far away from Sugawara as he could.

“Kiss up,” Sugawara mumbled.

“Devil-child,” Tooru quipped. Sugawara had to cover his laughter with his hand, but he left Tooru alone for the rest of charms class.

As the classroom emptied of students, Tooru approached Professor Takeda’s desk. 

Professor Takeda used his wand to arrange his books and casted a spell to collect the questionnaires he had passed out along with the syllabus.

He smiled when he saw Tooru in front of his desk. Putting his wand away, Professor Takeda flipped through the questionnaires. He pulled one out and skimmed it.

“Glad you stayed behind Oikawa, what can I help you with?”

The confidence Tooru felt during class crumbled without the audience. He felt embarrassed by his own audacity.

“I already… well you see, I have an older sister,” Tooru didn’t know how to ask for help in a linear way.

“Yes?”

Tooru swallowed and tried again, “Professor, I’ve uh read the books on the syllabus.” Professor Takeda tilted his head, thinking. Tooru’s embarrassment caused him to drop his eye contact with the professor. 

He jumped back into his explanation, “I know there’s still a lot I can learn from class, but I was wondering if you had any recommendations. For further reading.”

Tooru looked back up at the professor, who had regained his smile. 

“Yes, I can see from your questionnaire that you’re already knowledgeable for a first year. Come to my office hours tomorrow, they run from three o’clock until dinner. I can make you a list of books to read if you find the coursework too easy.”

Relief flooded through Tooru. He thanked Professor Takeda and ran out of the classroom, anxious about being late to his next class.

As soon as he was through the door, something grabbed his arm. He turned and saw Hajime holding him in place.

“Hajime! You waited for me? How nice of you, but do you really want to be late for your next class, too?”

“My next one is in this wing, so I’ll be fine,” Hajime explained.

Tooru shook off Hajime’s arm and began to rummage in his bag for the muffin. 

“Mine isn’t though, so I’ve got to run, but-“

“I get it, it’s hard to have time for someone not in your house.”

“I’ll make time for you Hajime, it’s just that I’ve got-“

“Other friends now, that’s good,” Hajime’s voice came out tight.

Tooru gave up the search for the muffin and looked at Hajime, who was looking everywhere but at Tooru. 

Tooru checked the watch on his wrist, but the battery in it kept it from working well inside of Hogwarts. He would have to write to his parents for an alternative. 

“You have new friends, too, right Hajime? That’s exciting,” Tooru countered. He really wanted to make sure Hajime ate something before his next class, but his words were making Tooru’s heart speed away from him. His chest felt tight, maybe from the tie. He wasn’t used to wearing something so constricting.

“Yeah, I guess it can’t be helped, it’s not like either of us had any say in the sorting,” Hajime tried to put his hands in his pockets like if he was wearing jeans, but his hands just slid down the sides of his robes.

Tooru could sense that being in different houses was affecting Hajime more than he realized it would when he agreed to let the Sorting Hat make the decision. Instead of responding, Tooru began to dig through his bag again. This time he drew his wand and casted the floating spell his mother taught him the day he got his wand. The bigger books in the bag hovered around Tooru. 

“I-uh, was shocked when you hat stalled, yesterday. Guess the Hat had a lot to think about,” Hajime continued.

“Oh yeah, we really had to duke it out,” Tooru replied, distracted. Hajime was probably being sensitive because he was hungry, Tooru figured. Maybe the sleep had not been enough for him.

“You fought with the Sorting Hat?”

“Oh yeah, but in the end I figured…” Tooru trailed off as he finally spotted the black, cloth napkin he had taken from the Great Hall. “Found that sucker-“

“Did you choose? It gave you a choice?” 

Tooru snapped his head up out of his bag and looked at Hajime. His eyes were piercing him like they always had and probably always would.

Tooru didn’t know what to say to him, so he just nodded.

“And you chose Slytherin, of all the houses. You could…” Hajime looked away and sniffled. “You could have picked Gryffindor.”

Tooru’s chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself. The wrapped muffin in his hand seemed like a useless gesture now. He shoved it back into his bag and commanded the books back into the bag. 

He reached forward to grab Hajime’s hands, to make him look at him again.

“I could have picked Gryffindor, you’re right, but-“

“But you didn’t want to be stuck with me,” Hajime supplied.

“That isn’t what I was going to say, not at all,” Tooru assured him, but how else could he explain it without seeming weak, without seeming like a coward that ran away without thinking about if his best friend had needed him, too.

“I-I want to…” Tooru didn’t have the words. He just shook his head and let Hajime’s hands go.

“You can’t tell me, Tooru?”

“I wanted Gryffindor, but the Hat showed me another path. And, I thought it would be okay.”

Hajime looked away from Tooru. He was about to speak again when the bells of the clock tower began to resound through the halls. 

“I’m sorry Hajime, I have to get to class, we can talk about- we can talk again later,” Tooru promised as he ran to his next class. 

And they didn’t talk about the sorting again. 


	6. Two Years Later: The sorting of Hinata Shouyou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tooru and Hajime are coming into their third year, their friendship more strained than ever. Hinata Shouyou is sorted into a house he isn’t sure wants him. And why is Daishou so obsessed about being the seeker of Slytherin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s Haikyuu Day in most of the world right now! So happy Haikyuu day! This series is the reason I have friends all over the world. I’m so happy to be in this fandom.   
Thankfully this will be the last sorting chapter of the fic. From now on, we’ll be bouncing mostly between Hinata and Oikawa with a few other perspectives thrown in here and there.  
I didn’t want Hinata to have a little sister in this fic so his owl’s name is Natsu, forgive me for my sins.   
As always, you can find me at pinchserveprince on tumblr and at pinchserve12 on twitter! The next update may be as late as October, so subscribe if you like this fic! Enjoy~~~

Stepping off the steamer train, Tooru was thankful he would never have to cross the lake in a shoddy row boat ever again. Leave that to the first years and Professor Keishin.

The train ride always peeled away the layers of the summer. Tooru had spent the it sending owl after owl to Professor Takeda and Sugawara. The professor had begged Tooru to enjoy his summer, but Tooru couldn’t stop thinking about what he could learn next. Plus, Sugawara lived so far away it wasn’t really feasible to hang out all of the time. 

As for Hajime… he had been distant with Tooru ever since they started school. They still talked all the time at school, but always in a group. Hajime’s friend Daichi stuck to Sugawara like glue. So, they had formed an interesting inter house friend group that had older students rolling their eyes.

Away from Hogwarts, being alone with Hajime made his chest hurt in a way he couldn’t yet comprehend. They mainly listened to quidditch matches on the radio. If not, Tooru was holed up in his house with more of his sister’s old books. Maybe, he had been avoiding Hajime.

Two years ago, if one had asked Tooru if coming to Hogwarts would make his chest ache with more than doubt, he might have laughed. Now, however, Tooru felt secure in his place alongside his classmates. If he could just figure out how to fix whatever was wrong between Hajime and him, life at Hogwarts would be nearly perfect.

“Well look who it is, Mr. Number Three,” Yaku called Tooru, already seated in a horseless carriage with Kuroo and Kenma.

Tooru rolled his eyes, but he didn’t think Yaku could see it from that distance. He looked around for Sugawara as the first years ran past him on their way to Professor Keishin.

Sugawara came out of the train, tie crooked, followed by Daichi. They were laughing at some joke Tooru didn’t hear.

“Where’s Iwaizumi?” Tooru looked around his friends.

“I thought he was with you,” Daichi replied. All three of them looked around. Sugawara craned around Tooru to have a look at the carriages. He pointed out Hajime in one of them.

“Looks like he’s with Kamasaki and Kyoutani.”

“We should grab our own carriage then,” Daichi offered.

“Yaku wants us to sit with them I think,” Tooru decided.

He clicked his tongue. It was like Hajime said, they have other friends. It wasn’t like Tooru had really done much to make Hajime feel like his best friend. 

Recently, Sugawara had filled that position. They had exchanged letters all summer, discussing their elective classes starting this school year, their third year. Tooru didn’t feel strongly about any in particular. He figured as long as it didn’t distract him from being the top student in the year, it didn’t matter what he picked.

Once they were seated with Yaku, The carriages began their slow meander up to the castle. The two Ravenclaws, Kenma and Kuroo, were huddled together over a magazine Kenma had brought from the muggle world.

Tooru hoped the friendship between the two would distract Kuroo just enough for Tooru to rise to the top of class. Now if he could only find something to get Yaku off track. He turned his gaze to Yaku, sizing up his opponent.

“I see you scheming, Oikawa,” Yaku warned, “You won’t be unseating me this year.” 

Last May had been a disappointment, since Tooru’s feverish studying had not been enough to get any higher than the third best marks in their year. No pressure, Tooru would come out on top this year.

“I don’t need to scheme, aren’t we all friends?”

Kuroo scoffed next to Kenma, “you say that now, but when exams come, you’re going to be so cutthroat we should just lock you in the restricted section of the library. Get it? Like those books that scream.”

Sugawara guwaffed, and Tooru smacked him. “You’re supposed to be on my side,” he hissed.

“Depends, are you going to take Divination with me,” Sugawara asked, bringing out the puppy dog eyes.

Tooru turned away and stuck his nose in the air, “Why don’t you ask your precious Daichi to take it with you?”

Daichi made a weird embarrassed sound on the other side of Sugawara. Kenma looked up from his magazine, his gaze shifting between Sugawara and Daichi. He made no comment and went right back to reading.

Sugawara, unfazed,turned up the dial on the puppy eyes. “He’s taking Ancient Runes, plus, I want to take it with  _ you _ my bestest, coolest, most brilliant-“

“Ugh, Make him stop Oikawa,” Yaku said, clutching his ears.

“No no,” Tooru waved Yaku away, “Keep going, Suga-chan, tell me more.”

“Best friend, Is that not already laying it on thick enough?”

”Divination’s gonna be a no from me, but only because Yaku and Kuroo are probably taking Arithmancy like the nerds they are. They’ll be drowning in work,” Tooru figured. Sugawara’s face crumbled, and he immediately began to pout. 

Snapping his head up, Kuroo stuck out his tongue at Tooru, perfectly matching Yaku. 

Tooru pretended to snap a photograph with an imaginary camera. “The two of you make such a cute set,” Sugawara commented, leaning his body as far away from Tooru as he could manage without actually sitting on Daichi. 

Yaku and Kuroo turned to look at each other, their elbows digging into each other. Their lips curled in unison at such a thought.

They faced away from each other saying, “I really hate that guy,”

Upset at their synchronicity, they started elbowing each other again with increased vigor. After one particularly hard jab to his side, Kuroo accidentally jostled Kenma.

“Kuro,” he warned, “don’t make me regret letting you sit next to Yaku.”

Tooru and Sugawara shared a scandalized glance. Yaku caught them, and insisted that one has to keep enemies close. Uncharacteristically, Kuroo agreed.

Daichi ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t get you three, is that really why you sit together?”

Tooru, Kuroo, and Yaku gave various mumbles of ascent.

“Aren’t you glad,” Sugawara nudged Daichi, “that I’m more laidback than them?”

Daichi smiled at Sugawara and said, “I really should have tried to squeeze in with Iwaizumi.”

Their carriage rolled up to the castle’s drive and came to stand still. Kuroo gave Yaku a gentle shove out. Yaku, true to nature, threatened to pull out his wand. To which, Daichi responded with an emphatic, “you better not.”

The doors of Hogwarts castle stood open as students poured in. He waved to Hajime in the foyer. 

At the ornate double doors of the Great Hall, Tooru said hello to Haiba and congratulated her on being made prefect.

“Thank you, Tooru,” she accepted gracefully.

“Isn’t your brother a first year?”

Haiba clapped her hands in front of her in excitement. She had told Tooru many stories about her silly younger brother. He would be lying if he wasn’t just a little bit worried he would be placed in Slytherin. Surely, such a chaotic presence would ruin their chances of winning the House Cup.

“He is! I hope he doesn’t do something stupid like fall in the lake,” Haiba pursed her lips.

“Surely, he can sit still for a few minutes,” Tooru laughed.

Just then, Yahaba, a fair haired second year in Slytherin ran up to them.

“I just heard from Tendou one of the first years fell in the lake!” He was out of breath, excited by the gossip.

Haiba looked like she was about to faint. She put a hand to her forehead and ran out to the castle entrance.

“What’s she upset for,” Yahaba asked, walking with Tooru into the Great Hall.

“Her little brother is out on the boats,” Tooru explained.

Yahaba blanched a little, “I hope he’s not in Slytherin. We have enough troublemakers.” He pointed to Tendou chatting with Shirabu and Ushijima. 

Tooru didn’t spend much time with the stoic Ushijima, but he spent plenty of time with Tendou. Tooru couldn’t decide if he was a trickster devil or just an airhead. He had a bad habit of handing out enchanted candies.

“Ushijima is fine, as long as he sticks to thinking about quidditch,” Tooru offered.

Yahaba hummed in ascent and said, “He’ll probably be captain next year.”

They waved to Kuroo and Kenma as they passed the Ravenclaw table. Once they were seated next to Sugawara, Tooru asked, “Don’t you think Daishou would be the better pick?”

Sugawara put his chin on Tooru’s shoulder, “Do you really think a seeker is a good pick for a captain? He’s gotta, like, keep his mind clear, don’t you think?”

“I don’t care about quidditch,” Tooru whined.

“You’re such a stick in the mud, Sugawara quipped.

“Sorry I can’t be a handsome jock like your Daichi.”

Sugawara huffed, “he’s not mine, you idiot, he’s just a friend!”

“A good friend would tell you your tie is crooked.”

Sugawara sat up and fixed his tie, “I’m bad at tying my tie, just like every other person in this school.”

A quiet fell over the tables as the professors took up their seats at the high table. As usual, Headmaster Ukai sat in the middle. The seat to his right was empty. Also as usual, since Professor Ukai would be escorting the first years soon.

Haiba ran into the Great Hall, nodded at the professors, and dashed to the Slytherin table. She took her seat across from Naruko, their other prefect. 

Tooru looked to her for news about her brother. She caught Tooru looking at her, so she wiped her brow dramatically, showing him it wasn’t her brother that fell in. 

Professor Keishin came in, alone save for the sorting hat in his hand. He placed it on the stool, just like every year. He exited the Great Hall to grab the gaggle of first years.

They followed him back in, wide-eyed and clinging to each other. 

“Aren’t they so cute,” Tooru whispered to Sugawara.

“Pfft, we were cuter.”

“What about me?” Yahaba twisted to face Tooru and Sugawara; he threw on some puppy eyes.

“You taught him that, didn’t you,” Tooru accused Sugawara. Sugawara looked ready to challenge him, but Naruko shushed them.

Professor Keishin read the first name on his scroll, “Onaga Wataru.”

“Let’s hope we get some potential quidditch players,” Tendou said further down the table. There was a mumble of ascent throughout the table, 

“Oh so if the conversation is about quidditch, it’s fine,” Tooru whispered to no one in particular.

“Not too late for you to join, Oikawa Tooru,” Ushijima said.

“Fat chance,” Tooru shot back, sticking out his tongue. 

Ushijima said nothing, but frowned at Tooru’s petulance. Let him think he’s immature, Tooru didn’t particularly care.

The sorting hat announced the boy, Onaga, belonged to the Slytherins. The table cheered loud, happy to have claimed the first student of the night.

They all stood to welcome the younger student. His face was equal parts puzzled and embarrassed by the attention. He took his seat between Naruko and Shirabu. He thanked Tendou when he was handed a candy, but Haiba quickly snatched it back. She apologized to Onaga, but didn’t explain the situation.

The table waited to continue the squish-train, but the next student was sorted in Ravenclaw, and the Slytherins quickly lost interest in the sorting when they could grill their newest addition instead.

He liked quidditch, which made Daishou and Ushijima happy, though the latter would never make any real indication of it.

“Are you interested in being a seeker,” Daishou asked, a strange grin on his face.

“I’ve mostly been playing keeper in pick up games with my friends,” Onaga admitted.

Daishou deflated and said, “Well that’s good. I wouldn’t want competition for my spot. Haha.”

“Haiba Lev,” Professor Keishin read from the scroll. The tallest boy in the group of first years lopped his way up to the stool. Unlike his peers, he didn’t have to hop up to sit upon it. The sorting hat still swallowed his hair, the same glittering shade as his sister’s.

Tooru crossed his fingers under the table, hoping the Energetic Little Brother, Destroyer of Worlds, was sorted into any other house. Dear hat, give Slytherin that much. 

Tooru looked at Haiba, the elder, she had her hands clasped in prayer in front of her. He doubted they were wishing for the same thing, but Tooru also had an older sister. She thought he was a snot and needed to stay out of her business. Maybe, Haiba felt the same way about her own little brother. 

“Gryffindor,” the hat called out. Gryffindor stood and cheered. Slytherin clapped enthusiastically, including Haiba. Stories of Lev’s ability to ruin projects with well-meaning “help” had circulated throughout their house long before Lev’s 11th birthday. 

She caught Tooru looking at her funny. She gave him a wink and said, “let Manabu sort him out, he doesn’t need the likes of us.”

As Lev ran to join the Gryffindors, Professor Keishin read out the next name, “Hinata Shouyou.” As if to contrast Lev, Hinata was short, with a shock of wavy orange hair. The color was pleasing against the stark black of his robes.

The boy needed a little shove from a blonde girl wrapped in a blanket. She must have been the one who fell into the lake, poor thing.

Hinata sat on the stool and greeted the hat, like Aone had their first year.

Sugawara exhaled next to Tooru’s ear, “Look at him, bet he’s a Hufflepuff.”

“Bet he and Aone will get along thick as-“

“Slytherin!” The hat was off of Hinata’s head in a flash. 

They lapped and yelled Hinata’s name as he ran to join them, smiling ear to ear. 

Shirabu grabbed Onaga’s arm and pulled him away from Naruko’s side to make room for Hinata. As soon as Naruko and Hinata sat down, the rest of Slytherin rippled in a wave of robes as they took their own seats.

Tooru watched as Naruko shook Hinata’s hand. His hair was even more vibrant up close. 

Hinata couldn’t sit still. He drank in the scene with his eyes. Tooru watched as he looked at the ceiling with its many hundreds of candles. He recognized the expression on Hinata’s face: relief. He was glad Hinata felt safe with them. So many students, himself included, came to this table fearing the worst.

Tooru couldn’t say the rumors and slights were completely unfounded. Tendou often experimented on people without permission. Ushijima only acknowledged people he viewed as strong, and left anyone else to rot. Even someone as pleasant as Daishou calculated his friendships. Slytherins did what they wanted. 

However, that also included Haiba’s gift of asking for (and receiving) the impossible. People like Sugawara and Yaku took great pride in being in Slytherin. They did everything they could to make sure they scored points for the House Cup. 

If someone bright like Hinata joined them, surely the hat saw his potential to flourish inside of the iron sharpening iron atmosphere. 

Once the feast began, conversations cropped up all over the table. Daishou was explaining to Onaga why being a seeker on the house team is the absolute best thing ever. To Tooru, he sounded a touch desperate. 

“Are you trying to convince the kid or yourself,” Shirabu ended up asking. 

Daishou flashed a grin that gave no indication of answering the question.

“What’s quidditch?” The entire table turned to find the speaker. Sandwiched between his fellow first years, Futakuchi and Onaga, Hinata looked around. He seemed surprised by the number of people now staring at him.

“You don’t know what quidditch is,” asked Tendou, curious as always. 

Hinata shook his head and stared at his plate. Tooru exchanged a glance with Haiba. Sugawara leaned forward to get a better look at Hinata.

“Did you grow up with your muggle parent, Hinata?”

Hinata’s cheeks turned about the color of his hair. 

“I’m, um, a muggleborn,” he slowly admitted. 

Half of the table reflexively responded, “not that it matters.”

But the other half of the table’s silence proved that in Slytherin, it did matter. As far as Tooru knew, no one without a magical parent had ever been sorted into Slytherin. An unconscious and unspoken holdover from the days of yore. 

Tooru looked around the table. Yaku’s face was pinched, but he didn’t look likely to speak. The Miya twins were sharing a glance, their distaste for the evening’s turn apparent on their face. Were they upset about the interruption of the festivities or were they upset with Hinata’s existence? 

“Then you’ve been missing out on the best sport ever,” Futakuchi said, slapping him on the back.

“You’ve never experienced the epic highs and lows of quidditch at Hogwarts,” Daishou added.

Between Onaga, Daishou, and Futakuchi, Hinata learned as much about quidditch that a person could without playing the game for themselves.

“Tooru,” Sugawara whined.

“What’s wrong now Suga?”

“I think the jocks are claiming him…”

————

The excitement of fishing Yachi out of the lake and the whirlwind feast exhausted him.

Shouyou craved the feeling of Natsu’s cage. It had grounded him all through the separation from his parents at the station and the long train ride into Hogwarts. Every time Hinata thought he would suffocate under the pressure of being an outsider in this new world, he looked into the owl’s eyes.

Until Professor Keishin had showed up at his house a few days before his 11th birthday, Shouyou had known nothing about magic or magic schools. However his parents had been quick on the uptake, and Shouyou’s own curiosity had been piqued. 

The professor had even escorted his family through Diagon Alley. Showing the Hinata family every shop. He had even given Shouyou tidbits of information about Hogwarts: the type of classes he’d be taking. Professor Keishin had told Shouyou that he was the flight instructor at Hogwarts, and thus the referee for the matches on the grounds.

Shouyou had wondered what kind of “matches” would need a flying referee, but now he knew he had meant quidditch. Hinata felt his cheeks flare from embarrassment again.

The only other thing Professor Keishin had neglected to talk much about was the nature of the houses that split the student population in four groups: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. No, Shouyou had learned about that on the train. Each house sounded just fine, if it meant that he would be able to make magical friends. 

The only tense moment on the train happened when Goshiki had asked Shouyou about his “blood status.” As soon as Shouyou told Goshiki that he was a muggleborn, the other students in the carriage had nodded and told him he had a zero percent chance of being placed in Slytherin.

Shouyou knew he was never going to be great at math, but the chances of a muggleborn being sorted into Slytherin seemed a small percentage of a percentage above zero. For, now he was standing in the plush underground common room of Slytherin, and other students were not happy to have him.

“It’s fine that he’s muggleborn, I’m simply saying the hat must have lost its ability to sort properly.”

“Exactly, that’s our concern, can’t you bring this up to the professors?”

“It’s not some mistake, you guys,” Naruko, the frustrated male prefect that had been nice to Shouyou at the tense dinner in the Great Hall. 

As the twins pushed their concerns on Naruko, Shouyou didn’t know if he should stick around to try to defend himself or if he should try to locate his belongings. More importantly, he wanted his owl. 

It felt as if every student in Slytherin was listening, silently judging Shouyou’s worth. The older students gathered were pretending to have conversations, but he could sense their eyes on him just the same. 

Shouyou decided to concentrate on the people directly in front of him. The Miya twins had been whispering to each other throughout the meal. As soon as the doors to the common room were shut, they had asked Shouyou if he was certain that his family wasn’t magical. The idea of a muggleborn in their house seemed to perplex them. 

Naruko had attempted to get the twins off Shouyou’s back, but that only made a real argument break out. 

The twins broke from Naruko and began to circle Shouyou. 

“We’re simply thinking about the future, you get that right?” The one with the grey dyed hair passed in front of him.

“I don’t think future generations of Hogwarts will appreciate being placed in houses they don’t belong in,” assured the second twin, behind Shouyou.

“If the hat says he’s a Slytherin, then he’s a Slytherin, Osamu, Atsumu,” Haiba asserted, coming into the argument. 

Atsumu’s cheeks looked dusted pink in the candlelight. He met Haiba’s gaze and she held it. Her posture was relaxed, she had the power in this dynamic. 

Atsumu looked away from her, and called Osamu off with a quirk of his head. They exited Shouyou’s personal space, but returned to arguing with Naruko.

“Here in Slytherin, we collect people who have great talent, you think a muggleborn is going to help us maintain that legacy,” Atsumu challenged, pointing at Shouyou.

The crowd had been only mildly interested before, but as the argument wore on, Shouyou noticed every face had turned toward him. The whispers had jumped to debates all around him. 

“Naruko, shut it down,” Haiba hissed, throwing an arm around Shouyou. Her hair pooling on the top of his head.

Naruko’s face looked pained. “We all want what’s best for Slytherin, Alisa.”

“So now you’re on their side?!”

“I think letting them speak is important.”

“You think this is a conversation to even be having? That’s disgusting, Naruko.” Alisa’s comforting arm turned to a vise grip. 

Shouyou closed his eyes, wishing he was in any other house, in any other school.

“How do you even measure talent,” an angry voice asked from the crowd. Haiba turned to search for her ally, and Shouyou joined her. 

Next to a boy with starlit hair, their defender was striding to the middle of the fight. 

“Tooru you don’t-,” the silver haired boy warned his friend, trying to pull him away. Tooru shook him off his arm. The Miya twins shared a look, but didn’t answer the question.

“You don’t have to answer,” Tooru assured them with a saccharine smile, “I know where I am. You think blood status determines talent. It’s what your parents think, it’s what your grandparents thought.”

Tooru stood between Shouyou and the Miya twins, something even Haiba hadn’t dared to do. 

“I’m Oikawa Tooru.”

“Hinata Shouyou.”

Oikawa flashed him a quick grin.

“Hinata, when was the first time you performed accidental magic,” he asked.

Shouyou had to think for a moment, but he answered, “I don’t remember it, but my parents say I stopped myself mid-air when I fell down the stairs when I was around 3?”

Oikawa turned to face the Miya twins, “wow so young! I bet you weren’t that young, huh?”

They sensed Oikawa grandstanding so they only shook their heads.

Oikawa turned slowly facing the circle of onlookers. Most people averted their gaze. 

“Tooru-“

“Suga-chan it’s fine,” Oikawa shot his friend down again. He took a deep breath and spoke to Shouyou.

“My family thought I was a squib. Oh, uh, a person from a magic family with no magic,” he explained for Shouyou.

The crowd gasped, and silence followed. It stretched on, but Shouyou felt himself being released from under the microscope.

“Blood status doesn’t mean shit,” Oikawa’s friend, Suga-chan, declared.

“He’s right. If muggleborns weren’t meant to be here, the quill wouldn’t write down their names,” Haiba said.

“And what do you think, Ushijima,” a mischievous voice said in the crowd, the first people to peel away from the scene.

“It's no concern of mine,” the gruff reply came.

The spell broke over the common room, and more and more people left for their dormitories.

Shouyou felt relieved, but he also felt like he had failed some test. He leaned around Oikawa to address the twins and Naruko.

“I-,” he stopped as they looked at him,”If the hat placed me here, then I’m here, right? That’s how it works.”

He stepped out of Habia’s comforting embrace.

“I belong here, I’ll trust that. And I’ll make you see it, too, if I have to,” he decided.

The twins shrugged at his challenge and walked away. They left Naruko to deal with Haiba’s wrath alone. 

“You,” she growled, marching into Naruko’s personal space, “you’re supposed to protect the first years, it’s only his first night!”

Naruko crossed his arms with a retort on the way, when the door to the common room opened up. An old man entered, immediately flicking his wand out to send a spell to stoke the fire. As he slid his wand back into his robes, he took stock of the students left out of their dormitories. He walked toward them slowly with his shoulders back and eyes ahead. His graying hair was slicked back. He wasn’t a tall man, but he carried himself as if he towered over his students.

Oikawa and Suga saw that as their cue to flee the scene, but the prefects stayed, ready to greet the professor.

Shouyou looked around, hoping someone would be able to point him toward his own bed. 

A quick sweep around the room proved that the professor’s entrance had sent the rest of Slytherin’s students away for the night. 

“Professor Washijo, good evening,” Haiba greeted him with a bob of her head. 

Professor Washijo didn’t answer her until he was seated in a plush chair by the fire. His eyes picked apart the tension between the prefects. He didn’t look at Shouyou.

“Good evening, Haiba, Naruko,” he responded after a few moments. 

“Care to explain what had Haiba on a holy crusade?”

“Professor-“ Haiba began, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“I’d rather hear it from Naruko, if you don’t mind,” Professor Washijo explained.

Naruko paled in the firelight. The green hues of the couches and tapestries gave his skin a sickly hue.

“Just a dispute amongst some of the boys, Professor, nothing a prefect can’t handle,” Naruko said.

Professor Washijo steepled his fingers together over his lap.

“Naruko, I rely on you and Haiba to keep order in this house. You shouldn’t let students younger than you mouth off to you as they do.”

Naruko started forward, but it was his turn to be silenced by Professor Washijo.

“If you cannot handle the situation and it comes to me, it will not end well for any involved parties, am I clear?”

“Yes sir,” Haiba and Naruko responded in unison. 

Haiba gave the professor one more nod of her head before finally turning her attention back to Shouyou. She smiled at him, the evening’s anger wiped from her features. 

“Professor, this is one of the first years, Hinata Shouyou,” she introduced him.

“Hinata, this is our head of house, Professor Washijo, he teaches potions,” she explained.

Shouyou gave the professor a deep bow, “nice to meet you, sir.”

“No sense making him kiss up to me, Haiba,” he responded, “you know I’m meeting all of them during class tomorrow, anyway.”

Shouyou could feel his mind reel, unsure of how to proceed. Haiba seemed unphased by the professor’s coldness. “Of course, professor,” she conceded.

Naruko brought his fingertips up to his prefect badge and addressed Shouyou, “Hinata, we should get you to your dormitory so you can get ready for classes tomorrow.” He placed a hand on Shouyou’s shoulder. Shouyou wasn’t sure he wanted it there.

“If you’ll excuse us, professor,” Naruko nodded as they left.

Professor Washijo waved them off without a word. Shouyou wondered if he was a man of few words or a man who enjoyed the power he held over his students.

In the corridors separating each year’s dormitories, Naruko gave Shouyou a word of warning.

“If you think the Miya twins were cruel to you, I don’t want to hear it. You handled yourself just fine in the end. Professor Washijo understands who and what you are. He’s going to be judging you the hardest out of anyone here. You need to be careful around him.”

Shouyou wasn’t sure if Naruko was trying to watch out for him. He wasn’t sure if his fingers were cold because of the chill from being under the lake or because of the chill in his heart. 

When the prefect pointed out what door belonged to the first years, Shouyou thanked Naruko for the advice.

Shouyou opened the door, and was hit with friendly slaps all over his shoulders.

“You’re alive!” On Shouyou’s right, Onaga cheered.

“Of course he’s alive, Haiba was crouching over him like a mother tiger,” Futakuchi said on his left. 

The beds that filed the room were tall with curtains draped all around them.

“Your owl has been losing her damn mind since we got in here,” Futakuchi said, making his way back to his own bed.

Shouyou ran to the cage stacked on his trunk at the foot of the only empty bed. 

The screech owl fluttered her wings at her boy. A few of her brown feathers had fallen to the bottom of her cage. 

“Were you nervous about me? I’m sorry, We’ll get you to the owlery after breakfast tomorrow so you can have more room,” he apologized. 

Natsu blinked her green eyes at Shouyou once, before she tucked her head under her wing. 

“Yeah, it’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”

“Are you going to spend the whole night talking to your bird, or are you going to tell us what happened after Washijo walked in?”

Shouyou rolled his eyes and chose to get ready for bed instead of entertaining them. Once he was settled in for the night, he told them it wasn’t anything especially interesting, 

Futakuchi called him boring, but he let the conversation drop. Onaga was snoring before long, and Shouyou could sense everyone else in the room were being carried toward their dreams. 

He smashed his face into his pillow exhausted and anxious. Oikawa had sacrificed something for Shouyou tonight, and Shouyou wasn’t likely to forget it. He would need to learn how to navigate this microcosm within a microcosm if he wanted to succeed. 

Shouyou found within himself that he did want to make a mark upon his new house. As to what, well he wasn’t sure yet, but he wanted to reclaim the happiness he had tasted when the sorting hat had placed him in Slytherin just a few hours earlier. He craved the easy smiles and puffed out chests. 

All he would need was a way back in.


	7. Paper Cranes, Secrets, and the Golden Snitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouyou begins his classes at Hogwarts; Tooru and Hajime recalibrate their friendship; Sugawara is sus; Ravenclaw vs Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that Sugawara's shenanigans are NOT what they seem. Like seriously. It should be obvious and if not obvious, funny when it's revealed, but I also don't want people trying to jump down my throat. 
> 
> I thought about making this into two chapters, but I really wanted to post a bigger update. This fic probably won't be updated again until the New Year, Christmas at the earliest.
> 
> Please kudos, subscribe, and comment if you enjoy the fic <3 come bug me on twitter @pinchserve12 or on Tumblr, pinchserveprince.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and Happy Halloween!

The pewter cauldron in Shouyou’s arms was as empty as his stomach. Why did potions have to be first thing in the morning? His sensitive stomach had made it impossible to even look at the food spread out on the tables of the Great Hall.

When the first year Slytherins had flowed into the classroom , they saw that most of the Gryffindors had beat them there. They weren’t sure how house points worked just yet, but the Slytherins had joked together that the Gryffindors were already trying to kiss ass. As if that hadn’t been the Slyhterin’s’ own hopes for arriving early.

Onaga and Shouyou fought over who Futakuchi should sit with. Shouyou insisted on a round of rock paper scissors to decide the seating arrangement. He explained to Onaga what it was, but Shouyou’s experience was not a good enough advantage. Futakuchi gave Shouyou a pat on the shoulder as he and Onaga went to pick out their seats. 

Shouyou took stock of the room, noting all the rest of the Slytherins had paired up. On the right side of the classroom, a shy looking Gryffindor waved Shouyou over.

“You can sit with me,” he said. The Gryffindor’s freckles moved in waves every time he spoke. 

“Oh, thanks! Did you just see me spectacularly lose at rock paper scissors? Maybe I should have cheated,” Shouyou asked. In his excitement, he dropped his cauldron on to the counter harder than he had intended.

The Gryffindor jumped at the noise. He gave Shouyou a sheepish grin. “I think it’s more crazy that you had to teach him rock paper scissors. “

Shouyou bounced in his seat, “right? Right? How do they make decisions here?”

“Maybe they just point their wands in each other’s faces until someone passes out?”

“Maybe,” Shouyou laughed. “Are you a muggleborn, too?” He stopped for a moment then added, “or maybe a half blood?”

The Gryffindor rubbed the back of his head, “I’m a muggleborn, too. It’s been a big change.”

“Thank goodness!” Shouyou tried to excitedly shake the Gryffindor’s hand, but the other kid quickly snatched his hand back. Shouyou blurted out, “well, not good that you have to adjust! I’m just happy to find another muggleborn. My house is all snooty about blood status. Well, not everyone, like Onaga and Futakuchi, but there’s these creepy twins that wouldn’t leave me alone last ni-”

The door leading to Professor Washijo’s office opened as Shouyou was gushing his life story to someone he just met. The old professor entered the classroom with the same indifferent air he had when Shouyou met him. He pulled out his wand and the cabinet on the left side of the classroom opened.

“Grab your textbooks,” he said, waving his wandless hand. 

The students pushed off from their seats and scrambled to select their books. The Gryffindor Shouyou was sitting next to had the advantage of being a lot taller than Shouyou. He went into the crowd of students and reemerged two books in his arms. He handed one to Shouyou.

“Crap, thanks, I would have died if I tried to get in there,” Shouyou said, flashing him a smile. “I forgot to say, but I’m Hinata Shouyou.”

“Oh, I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

They took their seats back up and waited for Washijo to start the class in earnest. 

“This class will require not only your full attention, but also your precision. Being successful in this class will rely upon you following my instructions and the instructions of your texts.”

Shouyou looked down at the textbook and opened it. It was old, and looking at Yamaguchi’s copy, he saw his textbook was just as ancient. 

“Every class meeting, we will be dealing with fire and other dangerous substances. If you value having all of your appendages, you will take care,” Professor Washijo continued. 

“Today, we will be starting with a potion that serves as an antidote for many kinds of poisons.” Washijo gave his wand a flick and the chalkboard behind flipped to the other side, revealing diagrams showing the proper way to identify the ingredients.

“At the back of the classroom, I have arranged herbs and plants that resemble the ones necessary for this potion. Keep your eyes sharp. I will be assigning a foot and a half of parchment on proper identification to anyone who fails to complete the potion by the end of the class period.”

Yamaguchi and Shouyou let out twin sighs. Shouyou turned to look at his seatmate, hoping for some kind of assurance.

“Well,” Yamaguchi said, “at least the drawings look nice.”

“That essay is going to take me forever,” Shouyou whined as they walked to the back of the classroom.

Shouyou spotted Haiba’s younger brother towering over the crowd. He was chatting excitedly with another Gryffindor, a jar holding a thick black substance in his hands.

“Lev, put that down, it’s not on the ingredient list at all,” the other Gryffindor held up his textbook to Lev’s face.

“Inuoka, it’s fine I’m just looking-” Lev dropped the jar. 

“Scatter!” Futakuchi yelled, dragging Inuoka away from the scene of the crime.

Shouyou snapped his head to the front of the classroom, anticipating Washijo’s wrath. 

“Twenty points from Gryffindor.”

Yamaguchi just sighed.

After spectacularly failing to make the first potion of the term, Shouyou ran to his next class. The journey from the Potion Master’s dungeon classroom to the Flying Lessons green probably required more than the five minute passing period. 

As he ran, he fell into step with some Hufflepuff’s, including Yachi from the train. As they stepped out of the main castle, the bright September sun bounced off of her blonde pigtails.

“Hinata,” she shrieked when she finally noticed he was running next to her. “I didn’t have time to thank you again for pulling me out of the lake last night!”

Shouyou did his best not to laugh at the memory of Yachi leaning dangerously over the edge of the small boat over the lake. She had been nervously babbling about seeing things moving in the lake when she lost her balance and tumbled into the dark water.

Nearly out of breath, Shouyou told her, “it wasn’t that hard, it’s almost like you pulled yourself back into the boat.”

As they approached the crowd of Hufflepuffsand Slytherins, Yachi stopped short, her light eyebrows pulled down in confusion. “Didn’t you pull me out like this?” She wrapped an arm around herself and tugged.

Shouyou shook his head, also confused. “No, I just had your hand.”

“Huh,” Yachi shivered. “That lake really is weird, isn’t it?”

“Yachi, hurry up, I saved you a broom,” a dark haired Hufflepuff called out to her. 

Shouyou and Yachi ran to join the crowd of students waiting for Professor Keishin.

Professor Keishin flew in from an unknown location. On his broom, he made a lazy circle around the two rows of students beside the practice brooms. 

As he came in for a final descent, he changed his grip so his hands were positioned on opposite ends of the broom. He let his body drop while his hands supported him. When he touched down on the grass, the assembled first years gave a cheer. Shouyou wondered what it felt like to glide through the air like that.

“Stop, that, I’m sorry for showing off,” Professor Keishin told them, waving away their praise. 

“Welcome to Flying Lessons. This class won’t have any homework, but if you don’t get a handle on flying, it could endanger your life. So, I’d appreciate it if you take this class as seriously as you would take Potions or Charms.”

Across from him, Yachi paled. The boy next to her noticed her shaking and patted her head. She elbowed him in return.

“I’m not a puppy, Goshiki,” she told him, but she gave him a smile anyway.

Professor Keishin put his broom on the ground beside him and said,”the first thing we need to master before we catapult you into the sky is how to show your broom who’s boss, alright?”

For the next twenty minutes, Professor Keishin taught them how to properly mount and grip their brooms. Shouyou wasn’t sure, but he wondered if the broom felt alive because of his own excitement or because of the magic that lived within it. 

When Professor Keishin gave them the clear to push off and try to hover, Shouyou was shocked that Yachi was the first person in the air. On her broom, she floated just above Goshiki’s head. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“Professor, is this okay,” she squeaked out in a panic. 

“Yes, that’s very good,” he praised her,” but don’t go anywhere just yet, alright?”

“Not going anywhere, nope.” She shook her head dramatically, but her broom never wavered. 

Shouyou felt his competitive spirit rise up within him as he watched Yachi float while everyone else struggled with kicking off the ground. He adjusted his grip and focus on the mental image of him being the one in the air. Shouyou shut his eyes tight.

He leaned his torso forward and kicked off the ground. He tucked his legs up against the broom, trusting that he wouldn’t tumble back down to the ground. 

The falling feeling never came. When Shouyou opened his eyes, he found he was hovering on his broom, only a couple inches below Yachi.

Momentarily forgetting her panic, Yachi clapped for Shouyou. They were still the only two in the air. 

“Wow, no hands, showing off already,” Futakuchi yelled from down the line. Shouyou could tell his housemate was already frustrated.

Yachi looked at her hands. For a moment, Shouyou thought she was gonna faint dead away right then and there. Instead, she held her hands out to her sides, light a tightrope walker might.

“Hmm, that’s interesting,” she hummed to herself. 

Professor Keishin looked at her and said, “maybe we’ll make a quidditch player out of you, kid.”

With an awkward laugh, Yachi said, “Professor, quidditch is so violent, though.”

The professor flashed his sharp teeth and said, “only if you’re slow enough to get caught.”

\-------------------

All throughout lunch, Suga complained about Oikawa refusing to take divination. The constant yapping was beginning to grate on Tooru.

“Look, Suga,” he said as he took a bite of the sandwich he had picked out, “I have to pick the classes that give me the best chance of having higher marks than Kuroo and Yaku. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be in third place?”

Suga huffed, “I get it, I get it. Stop talking with your mouth full. I didn’t sign up to be spat on.” For emphasis, he brushed a crumb off of his shoulder. 

Someone hit Suga on the back, making them both jump. Tooru turned to see that Daichi and Hajime had snuck up behind them. 

“Do you want me to choke,” Suga asked. Daichi started laughing. Once Daichi was seated next to him, Suga gave him a sturdy punch in the arm. “I’m serious what if you killed me?”

“It’ll take more than that, I’m sure,” Hajime countered as he rounded the table to sit across from Suga. Tooru tried not to sigh as he realized Hajime had purposefully not sat in the free seat across from him.

“There’s still time to switch to Divination, Daichi,” Suga said, his smile dazzling. Thankfully, Daichi was already immune to it.

“I’m not interested in reading the future-”

“It’s not just the future! You can, like, see patterns of the past and see how they are affecting the present, which is so cool, and I can’t believe none of you see it.” Suga stuffed what remained of his own sandwich into his mouth with a frustrated grunt. 

“That does sound cool,” Hajime offered. He had the parchment with his own schedule in his hand. 

“What did you sign up for,” Tooru asked him. He stood up and leaned over the table to try and grab a look himself.

“I was torn between Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies for a long time,” Hajime admitted, folding the paper and slipping it into his robes. The scarlet of his crest rippled with the movement.

Suga snapped his fingers, “you’re trying out for quidditch this year right? I hope you picked Muggle Studies.”

“He could take Ancient Runes and still do quidditch,” Daichi countered.

Suga waved is hand, “no, no, you’re the only one dumb enough to sign up for a class notorious for having way too much homework  _ and _ sign up for brain damage.”

Daichi rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to get brain damage from quidditch. I didn’t last year!”

Suga shrugged, “you were just lucky.”

“So you think Kuroo and Yaku are going to,” Daichi asked, “since they’re starting players this year?”

“I hope they do,” Tooru hummed, before taking a sip of cranberry juice.

“Anyway,” Dacihi said, “which did you pick?”

“Muggle Studies,” Hajime huffed.

Tooru instinctively high-fived Suga. 

“I knew you were smarter than Daichi,” Suga teased. 

“Well, that’s because he has less brain damage,” Tooru guessed.

“I’m not brain damaged,” Daichi sighed.

“Not yet,” Hajime countered. 

Tooru laughed, briefly meeting Hajime’s eyes. The weird pain in his chest was back again. He tried to rub it away as the moment passed. 

When they were in a group like this, things were fine. He could pretend that things had never changed. Tooru tried not to think about how their friendship was tied to their shared friendships, rather than their childhood. People grew up and grew apart. Tooru was actually lucky he still had Hajime in his life, however different and distant. 

Still, there were times like now when Tooru craved for the distance to close back up. He wanted to know that they would talk to each beyond these moments.

The bells chimed, and everyone in the Great Hall began to scramble. The block after lunch was for their new elective classes. Suga and Daichi said goodbye as they fled to their classes. 

Tooru took his wand out of his robes and charmed all of his books back into his school bag. 

“I swear that is the only spell I ever see you use,” Hajime told him.

Tooru hefted his heavy bag onto his shoulder and puffed out his chest, “at least I use mine for more than picking my nose.”

Hajime looked like he wanted to strangle Tooru. Laughing, Tooru saw that as a win. 

They left the Great Hall together. As they walked, Tooru pulled out his own schedule to see where the Muggle Studies class was located. 

“I wish the classrooms weren’t so spread out all over the place,” he complained as he shoved the parchment back into his robe.

“What class do you have right now,” Hajime asked. 

As Tooru started to answer, the stairs they were climbing up gave a dramatic shiver. He wanted to pull out his hair. If the stairs didn’t connect to the right landing, they were going to be late to class.

“Didn’t I say,” Tooru asked, clinging to the bannister for dear life.

“No, you didn’t,” Hajime said with a little more force than necessary. He must have been mad at the stairs, too.

“Oh, well, all of my upperclassmen said that Muggle Studies is super, duper easy, so I signed up for it.” They reached the end of the stairwell as it connected to its new landing. Noticing their position in the castle, Tooru stomped his foot hard as they reached the landing. “Great, this leads to the wrong wing. C’mon, we’ve gotta go back down and try a different set of stairs.”

Tooru didn’t want to look at Hajime’s face. He was unsure if he could handle it if Hajime was disappointed. 

As he started to descend back down the stairs, Hajime grabbed the sleeve of his robes. “I know a shortcut, dummy,” he explained as he tugged Tooru along. As they ran together, the weight on Tooru’s chest lifted. It had been so long since he had been without the pressure, he had forgotten what it felt like.

Together, they ran until they reached the library.

Tooru shook his head, “this doesn’t seem like-”

“The library has a back staircase.”

True to his word, there was a small doorway tucked behind the restricted section’s corridor. Hajime threw the door open and they hurtled down the stairs together. 

Hajime tugged through another small door, popping them out three doors down from the Muggle Studies classroom.

Tooru’s sides ached from all of the running, but he was happy they weren’t late for their class.

“That was a cool shortcut,” Tooru told Hajime as they caught their breath. 

“It comes in handy.”

“Do you use it a lot?”

“Only ‘cause Gryffindor Tower is so high up. All the changing stairs makes me want to puke.”

“Ah,” Tooru said, “bet it’s cause you always sleep in.”

“Whatever, dumbass, let’s go.”

They weren’t technically late to Muggle Studies, but they definitely weren’t early. All of the desks were taken except for the one closest to the door at the back of the classroom. 

In all of the joint classes between Slytherin and Gryffindor, Tooru and Hajime hadn’t needed to sit next to each other. Most of the time, it made the most sense to sit by house. No one really trusted another house, especially when it came to earning points for the House Cup. 

With no other choice available, Tooru and Hajime sat down together at their joined desks.

The Muggle Studies professor, Professor Saitou, was notorious for being nice, but boring. As he droned on about the basics of blending in with muggle society, Tooru learned the upperclassmen had been correct in their description of him.

Tooru had no real interest in muggles nor their tools for coping with a non magical existence. Though, he had to admit the invention of the automobile was a pretty good one. 

About 20 minutes into the lecture, Hajime started to snore softly. Quickly catching him, Tooru dug his elbow into Hajime’s side when the professor turned his back to the board.

Hajime sat up with a jolt, and Tooru worked quickly to cover Hajime’s mouth with his hand. Had Tooru been allowed the time, he would have much rather to cast a silencing spell. 

So, true to nature, Hajime bit his hand, hard.

Tooru prided himself on his ability to keep it cool, so he didn’t even grunt as Hajime’s teeth dug into the delicate skin of his hand.

As Hajime realized he was in class and not being assaulted, he released his grip on Tooru’s hand and mumbled a small apology. 

The professor turned back to the class. Tooru and Hajime bent their heads down to their brightly colored textbooks. 

Tooru pulled out a piece of parchment from the stack he kept wrapped in a nice piece of leather. He dipped his quill in ink. The note he wrote Hajime asking him how someone so nice could be so unbearably boring. 

He slid the parchment over to Hajime, who read it and grabbed his own quill and ink. The resulting response said that it was impossible to make muggles interesting, and that they were lucky to have a nice professor for such a boring subject. Imagine if Professor Washijo was in charge of muggle studies. 

Picturing the pinched faced Head of House in his head, Tooru had to suppress a laugh. Tooru sent back one more reply before the class ended saying that they would have been murdered already if that were the case.

As the term began to wear on, Tooru and Hajime kept up their notes in Muggle Studies classes. Sometimes, the notes were single sentences or drawings of muggles with their various inventions and subculture clothing. Hajime was better at drawing than Tooru. This led to Tooru’s drawings being unintentionally comical.

Sometimes, the notes were more like letters, page long attempts at playing catch up for the last two years of their lives. Tooru told Hajime about the time he and Suga filled Professor Washijo’s chair with itching powder after he gave them particularly horrid scores on their midterms. They had managed to convince the mean Head of House that it had been the Miya twins who had been lurking surreptitiously around the common room. 

Hajime came to the next class meeting with a letter telling Tooru about how Kyoutani and Yahaba were secretly attempting to become animagus. The experiment had begun when the two had come to blows in the previous week’s dueling club meeting. They were suspended from the club’s activities until after Halloween, which gave them way too much free time. 

Yahaba had just put his nose in the air and said it was fine because he had other things to do. Which made Kyoutani curious, and it had snowballed from there.

As he read the letter, Tooru tried to not burst out laughing. When they were leaving the classroom, he said, “that’s so stupid, do you think they’ll make it?”

Hajime shrugged slightly as they headed for the moving stairs. “Kyoutani thinks he can do it, but that Yahaba won’t be able to shut his mouth long enough.”

As they came to the bottom of the stairs where they parted for their next block of classes, Tooru said, “yeah, I think if he doesn’t share his opinion on everything, he’ll die.”

“A lot like you,” Hajime replied before taking down the opposite hall.

Tooru’s mouth dropped open. He was shocked that Hajime had managed to grab the last word. He didn’t always need to say something. Tooru was more than capable of leaving things be. At least, he liked to pretend he could.

As he sat in Transfiguration, he stewed. As Professor Irihata talked about accounting for mass when selecting appropriate spells, Tooru decided he had to have the real last word of the earlier conversation. 

Quietly, he slipped his most recent charms text out of his bag. Professor Takeda had given him written permission to access the N.E.W.T. level academic books on charms in the library. He had been wanting to try this particular spell for a while, and now seemed like the perfect time. 

He quickly scribbled out a note, smearing the excess ink on the corner of the small piece of parchment. Then, he pulled out his wand and kept it on his lap until Professor Irihata turned his back to Tooru to check out the work of another student in the class.

Quickly, Tooru lightly tapped his wand to the note and repeated the charm. For a moment, he thought he had pronounced the incantation wrong. This happened to him often, because he learned a lot of these charms outside of class. Just as he was about to look at the text again, the note crumpled and folded until it was shaped into a tiny paper crane. 

With another flourish of his wand, he told the little crane to find Hajime. When he was finished, the crane flapped its wings and lifted off. It sailed out of the open door and out of sight.

After class, Hajime came running down the corridor.

“What are you doing over here,” Tooru asked when Hajime was close enough to hear him. “Oh are you mad about my letter? I was just joking with you, I-”

“How did you get it to fly all the way over to the Potions classroom,” Hajime asked, nearly out of breath. 

“It’s not a hard charm, we practically already learned it this year.”

“It was a throw away spell for folding paper, not for sending it clear across the castle,” Hajime insisted.

Tooru stuck his nose in the air, “okay, yeah maybe it was a N.E.W.T. level charm.”

Hajime looked like he was going to say something, but he caught himself. No longer out of breath, he straightened out. 

“Well, if you can do it, I bet I could do it.”

“Yeah right, I’m a genius,” Tooru retorted as they began to wind their way to joint Charms. 

“You’re not a genius,” Hajime told him, knocking their shoulders together, “you’re just a nerd.”

A few nights later in the plush Slytherin common room, Tooru and Suga were sharing a blanket by the fire when a small cluster of seventh year girls emerged from behind one of the tall, stone statues by the corridor connecting the common room and the dorms. Tooru could see them reflect in the dark glass that separated the common room and the lake above. It was a not-so secret passage, but Washijo didn’t say anything about it unless they were stupid enough to get caught.

The tallest of the group turned to her friends and said, “someone’s got a jinx on the Astronomy Tower.” 

Tooru saw Suga move to hold his book closer to his face.

“It’s so annoying,” a member of the gaggle replied, “last night, when I went there with my boyfriend to, you know…”

“Just say you were going to make out, stop being so shy.”

The girl blushed, and Tooru had to fight not to laugh. The group of girls couldn’t see them over the tall couches surrounding the fireplace.

“Ugh, whatever, anyway, we started up the stairs and when we reached the main landing, this super loud alarm started going off-” she stopped her story as her friends laughed at her- “it’s not funny! We almost got caught!”

Another member of the group crossed her arms, “well, what about when there’s classes up there?”

“It doesn’t go off,” the tall girl said.

“Do you think it’s the professors, then?”

The group hummed in unison as they thought about it. 

The last girl in the group shook her head, “no, I think I saw that third year coming back from that direction the other night, when I was going out to- well, I was out.” She held up a finger as she tried to remember. Then, she said, “the silver haired one..”

“Sugawara?”

“Yeah, he was walking with his friend-”

“Tooru?”

She waved her hand, “no, no, the Gryffindor. They’re stuck like glue.” She held up her fingers and crossed them. 

“Oh.”

“Oh.”

“Oh…”

Tooru turned to look at Suga hunched under his book and the blanket. He rolled his eyes and went back to watching the older girls gossip.

“Gross, what’s wrong with kids these days,” the tall girl asked as they left the common room for their dorms. Their voices quickly faded. 

Suga surfaced from the blanket to look around. “Are they gone?”

Tooru recovered from the shock and began hitting Suga with the Transfiguration textbook he had been reading. 

“Explain! Explain,” he hissed at his friend. 

Suga covered his head as Tooru continued to whack him. 

“It’s not exactly-”

“So it’s partially true,” Tooru shrieked. Suga nodded in response. 

Letting the book drop to the floor, Tooru threw back the blanket and paced the common room. 

“Oh my god,” he kept repeating. 

“Stop overreacting!” Suga’s cheeks were nearly scarlet. 

“You- why- how- ugh,” Tooru tried not scream, “gross-”

He saw Suga take a deep breath, pulling back an arm. Tooru thrust his arms out in front of him. “No, I mean, Suga-chan, that’s whatever, it’s just that we’re-”

Suga deflated a little bit, “it’s not exactly- you know what, I’m not going to explain.”

Tooru wanted to know more, but if Suga said he was done talking about it, there was no real point in arguing. 

“Fine,” Tooru conceded, “ but warn your best friend next time, alright?”

“Isn’t Iwaizumi your best friend,” Suga asked, exchanging one uncomfortable subject for another. 

Tooru thought about it as he pulled out his wand to fold the blanket and fix the cushions they had stolen from the couches.

“I guess he was my best friend, before school,” Tooru told him.

Suga shook his head, “I mean right now. You’ve been talking more.”

“We pass notes sometimes in Muggle Studies,” Tooru said, throwing himself onto the largest couch. Suga perched himself on one of the arms of the same couch. 

“You also send each paper cranes. Everyone’s been seeing them around the castle. They’re almost as infamous as me.”

Tooru lifted his head to look at Suga. “Almost?”

Suga shrugged. 

“Did you really jinx the number one makeout spot on the grounds so you would have exclusive access to it,” Tooru asked. He was scared of upsetting Suga, but he didn’t want to talk about talking to Hajime again was making him feel all messed up inside.

In response, Suga grinned like the cat that ate the canary. “I did.”

\-------

The day of the first quidditch match of the school year, Oikawa and Sugawara snatched Shouyou out of his dorm long before the other first years thought to wake up. They had Slytherin crests painted on their right cheeks. 

“Get dressed, Shouyou,” Oikawa commanded him, “ _ accio  _ Shouyou’s robes.” He waved his wand. The robes came flying out of the trunk by the foot of Shouyou’s bed. Sugawara caught them in his hand without looking. 

“What’s going on,” Shouyou asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His body craved to crawl back under his sheets. When he tried to lay back down, Sugawara caught his arm and hoisted him back up. 

“No you don’t-” he shoved the robes into Shouyou’s hands- “get dressed. We’ve decided you need to have a good seat for this match.”

“Meet us in the common room in 10 minutes, and we’ll grab breakfast before going down to the pitch.”

Still disoriented, Shouyou nodded. After double checking he wasn’t going to crawl back into his bed, Oikawa and Sugawara left the dorm.

Today, Ravenclaw and Slytherin were opening up the school’s quidditch season. At dinner the night before, Shouyou had been sandwiched between the two third years. Sugawara explained that the two of them didn’t usually care much about quidditch. This year, however, Kuroo and Yaku, arch-rivals, were finally starting on their teams. 

Oikawa had dramatically lifted a hand to his forehead, crying about poor little Yaku keeping the goals all by himself against those scary upperclassmen. When Yaku had heard Oikawa making fun of him, he had hissed all sorts of expletives at them until Haiba told him to shut up “for once in his life.”

As Shouyou washed his face, his senses began to wake up. His empty stomach fluttered slightly. Everyday, he was learning more and more about the magical world. Today, he was going to finally see what the commotion around quidditch was all about. 

When Shouyou emerged from the dorms into the common room, Oikawa and Sugawara were waiting like they had promised. In the better lighting, the crests painted on their faces glittered a brighter shade of silver. The emerald snakes on their cheeks seemed to dance, but that could have been a trick of the lighting.

“There you are,” Sugawara announced when he saw Shouyou, “you just missed the team heading out.” He threw an arm around Shouyou’s shoulders as Oikawa led the way to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

“You know who’s on the team, right,” Oikawa asked, turning to look at Shouyou for a moment.

“Ushijima…”

“He’s our lead Chaser. I don’t think there’s anyone faster than him.”

Oikawa waved his arm as if to dispel smoke, “it’s because his head is hollow. The air just goes right through him.”

Shouyou shrugged, “and Yaku’s the Keeper.”

“He’s the brand new Keeper! He’s been on the team since last year, but today’s his first official match,” Oikawa explained. He couldn’t help a little mischievous laugh. 

Sugawara let go of Shouyou and ran up to Oikawa to wrap him into a choke hold.

“This one is excited to see Yaku and Kuroo rip each other apart,” Sugawara said.

“I heard you mention it at dinner,” Shouyou recalled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He picked up his pace to match his upperclassmen. “I don’t know Kuroo, though.”

As they swung into the Great Hall, Sugawara let go of Oikawa and pushed his hair into a weird rat nest. “He’s a third year, like us, with hair like this. He’s a crack up.”

“He’s a nerd,” Oikawa countered.

“So are you,” Sugawara volleyed in return. 

They took their seats at what served as the Slytherin table during dinner. Diagonal from the trio was Yahaba, Kyoutani, and Iwaizumi. Usually when Shouyou saw Yahaba and Kyoutani, they were yelling about this and that, but recently they had been eerily quiet. 

Oikawa waved to Iwaizumi, who nodded in return.

“Where’s Daichi,” Sugawara asked.

“He said you kept him up too late last night, so he’s sleeping in.”

Sugawara crossed his arms, “what a baby.”

“Kyoutani, what’s wrong,” Oikawa asked, his voice filled with false concern. “You’re usually so excited for quidditch matches.”

Yahaba covered his mouth as a laugh tried to escape. 

For his part, Kyoutani hardly looked up from his breakfast. Insead, he lifted a hand to send Oikawa a rude gesture. 

Suddenly, Shouyou’s sight was shuttered by hands over his eyes.

“Sugawara?”

“Don’t be teaching him bad things, Kyoutani,” Sugawara gasped.

“Like he won’t learn worse from you sooner or later,” Shouyou heard Iwaizumi scoff.

Shouyou’s eyesight returned as Sugawara let him go. Near the main entrance of the Great Hall, he saw Yachi walk in with another girl from Hufflepuff.

He called out to them, and they waved back. The pair looked around at the other tables and decided to join Shouyou.

“Good morning, Hinata,” Yachi said when she sat down, “this is Kaori, if you haven’t met yet.”

“We haven’t,” she said, her high ponytail swished with her every moment. 

After they exchanged pleasantries, Yachi asked him why he was awake so early on a Saturday.

“Sugawara and Oikawa dragged me out of bed so we could get good seats at the quidditch match!”

“Because we’re nice like that,” Oikawa shrugged. 

“It’s Ravenclaw against Slytherin, right?” Kaori asked, her eyes lighting up.

“Yeah,” Shouyou told her, “there’s a couple new players, too, so everyone is saying it’s going to be a great match!”

Kaori clapped her hands together in delight and nudged Yachi. “We’re going right? We have to go!”

Yachi scooped up some eggs and giggled nervously, “but what if the bludger goes wild and it tries to attack the stands or what if the Keeper blocks the quaffle and it rebounds and hits-”

“Wow,” Sugawara said under his breath.

Koari threw an arm around Yachi to calm her. “The chances of that ever happening are so small, Yacchan,” she explained.

Shouyou pointed his fork at Yachi and puffed out his chest. “If anything comes flying toward us, I’ll protect you, don’t worry Yachi!”

“Oh yeah,” cooed Oikawa. “We better teach you how to cast a protection spell, then.”

  
  


When everyone, including the girls were finished eating, the now massive group made their way to the stands. The game was still about 45 minutes out. 

As they walked, Oikawa showed Shouyou how to cast the most basic protection spell. He nitpicked Shouyou’s form and pronunciation until he found it satisfactory. 

In front of him, Kyoutani turned around and threw a muffin at Shouyou’s head. Instinctively, Shouyou casted the protection spell. The muffin rebounded and Yachi snatched it out of the air with lightning speed.

Good job, Shouyou,” Sugawara said, patting him affectionately on the head.

“Kyoutani, do you want your muffin back?”

They climbed the stairs of the stand Oikawa swore was the best one to sit in, and no it wasn’t because it had the Slytherin banner on one side and the Hufflepuff banner on the other. Though, it was an added bonus.

Their group was so large that they decided to sit in a box shape. Koari ran into Kanoka, a second year Gryffindor student, so they sat together in front of Yachi and Shouyou. Yahaba was on Shouyou’s left with Kyoutani next to Yahaba. The third years sat behind Shouyou and smacked him with their legs whenever the need arose within them.

The whole group bantered together, except for the silent pair next to Shouyou, until more and more people started to make their way to the pitch. The stands began to fill, but the spots on Yachi’s right stayed empty until a pair of first years arrived about 15 minutes before the game.

“This is the best stand Yamaguchi, stop complaining,” the tall, blond told his friend. He moved so Yamaguchi could slide down the bench to sit next to Yachi.

“I don’t know, Tsukki. It feels weird not sitting in the Ravenclaw stand at the very least-”

Shouyou cut him off, “Yamaguchi!”

Yamaguchi jumped from the force of Shouyou’s shout, and Tsukki narrowed his eyes at him.

“Hinata,” Yamaguchi greeted him. “I should have known you’d be sitting here.”

Shouyou shrugged and pointed at the upperclassmen behind him, “it was their idea to sit here.”

Sugawara nodded. 

“It’s the best seat in the house,” Oikawa agreed.

Tsukki scoffed, “see I told you, this was the best place.”

Since Yamaguchi was still facing Shouyou and not Tsukki behind him, he rolled his eyes and said, “you just didn’t want to sit-”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi grinned at Shouyou and put up his hands, “sorry, Tsukki.”

“I-I’m Yachi Hitoka,” Yachi introduced herself, probably feeling awkwardly squished between Shouyou and Yamaguchi. 

“Yamaguchi Tadashi, and this is Tsukki, well, Tsukishima Kei.” Yamaguchi opened his arms and showed off his blond friend with a “tada” motion.

Tsukishima didn’t offer much except a bob of his head. 

“Do you like, quidditch, Yachi,” Yamaguchi asked.

Yachi gave another nervous giggle, “I think it’s really scary! My dad took me to an official match this past summer, and one of the chasers was nearly killed by a bludger!”

She began shaking just from the memory.

Shouyou was shocked, “wow... that’s insane.”

Shouyou saw Yahaba shrug out of the corner of his eye.

Kaori turned around and put a comforting hand on Yachi’s knee, “that doesn’t happen all the time, you know.”

“Tsukki weren’t you telling me your brother almost got de-”

“Yamaguchi, she might die if you tell that story,” Tsukishima mumbled. His eyes were fixed on the quidditch pitch as if no one else was there in the stands with him.

“I didn’t know much about quidditch until Tsukki told me this past summer. He didn’t tell me about magic until my letter came in! We’ve been friends for a few years, you see Tsukki’s family put him in a muggle school, that’s where we met-”

“Yamaguchi seriously-”

Shouyou was hit suddenly from behind. The upperclassmen behind him and Yachi had pressed forward as a single unit.

“They’re taking the field!” Oikawa announced, pointing. 

Shouyou followed the line of Oikawa’s finger until he saw the cool green robes of the Slytherin team shoot up into the air as a unit and spread out. Their brooms were sleek, more sporty than the practice brooms Shouyou had been riding these past few weeks. Ushijima sat at the front of the pack as the lead Chaser. Behind him, Haiba and Naruko were tall imposing figures, their robes fluttering as if with anticipation. 

To Shouyou’s surprise, two familiar faces flanked them. 

He turned around to face Oikawa and Sugawara, the frown on his face cutting deep, “the Miya twins are on the team?”

Sugawara shrugged, “they are kind of assholes, but there’s no denying they’ve been the best Beaters in the Cup since they debuted their second year.”

Shouyou didn’t trust them, but he supposed everyone has things they are good at. 

At the goal posts behind the rest of the team, Yaku sat on his broom. He seemed hardly more than a speck in the distance. It struck Shouyou how small Yaku was. Besides Ushijima, he was the youngest member of the team. 

“Is he supposed to defend all three of those rings by himself,” Shouyou asked, not knowing who to address.

“It seems like a lot, doesn’t it,” Yachi said, peering through something like opera glasses. 

Spotting her, Yamaguchi asked to borrow them.

“Oh, there’s the Seeker,” he said as he lifted his eyes high above the rest of the team.

Shouyou followed Yamaguchi’s eyeline and saw Daishou surveying the entirety of the pitch. It looked like he was at the top of the world, the edge of the earth. 

“So the Chaser’s toss around the quaffle; they try to score in the goals. The Beaters play around with the bludgers to defend their team and attack their opponents,” Yachi explained.

“And the Seeker,” Sugawara said behind him.

“The Seeker has the power to change everything.”

After the Ravenclaws took their positions, with Kuroo as a member of his team’s chasers, Professor Keishin took the field. His robes were a richer black than Shouyou had ever seen. The whistle at his chest glimmered in the sunlight as the sun danced in and out of the clouds. He carried with him a small trunk. After unlatching the trunk, he addressed the teams.

“I’d tell you kids to play nice, but I know you’re all hopeless. I won’t hesitate to take any of you out of the game, so fear me.”

He pulled out his wand and blew the whistle. He threw the quaffle up as the bludgers and snitch took off faster than rockets.

A loud voice narrated the game, as if the event were being televised.

“Ushijima and Kita fight each other for the quaffle, but it looks like the Miracle Boy gets a good hold of it and goes in for a nose dive.”

Shouyou recognized the voice, but he wasn’t exactly sure. He turned to the upperclassmen behind him.

“Is that…”

Iwaizumi looked like he was already not having a good time.

“Tendou announces the game, yes.”

Oikawa laughed beside him, “he gave you one bad piece of candy. I didn’t know you held grudges like that.”

Iwaizumi’s cheeks flared and so did his nostrils. “Who told you about that?”

“Tendou felt really bad about it,” Oikawa whined.

“Yeah, right, the creep.”

“Ushijima passes to our resident goddess, and she scores! Slytherins lead ten to zip! Woooooo~”

“It keeps it lively, I guess,” Yachi mumbled, her opera glasses perched on her nose again. 

“Keeper Mai tosses the quaffle back into play. Kuroo goes to catch it- Miya Atsumu sends a bludger toward the new Chaser to give Naruko time to snatch the quaffle as it falls. Excellent play!”

“Ravenclaw has a young team this year,” Tsukishima said quietly beside Yamaguchi. 

“They don’t have any seventh years,” Yamaguchi asked.

“Their eldest are Kita and Mai, fifth years.”

“That’s quite the disadvantage,” Yachi piped up. Her eyes were trained on the pitch, not seeing Tsukishima curl his lip from her entrance into the conversation.

The game continued with the same intensity with which it started. What Ravenclaw lacked in experience and height, they made up for with their ability to weave through Slytherin’s defenses. 

“It’s newbie Kuroo with the quaffle. He’s headed straight for the goals. Kita manages to keep Ushijima off of him. C’mon Wakatoshi! Put your back into it!”

Shouyou watched nearly breathless as Kuroo threw the quaffle at the shortest of the rings. In a flash, Yaku appeared and caught the attack. 

“As expected of Slytherin’s pocket sized dynamite, Yaku Morisuke. It looks like he’s finally hitting his groove in his debut match, but Slytherin still trails 80-40.”

“Until what score do they play until,” Shouyou asked Yachi. She passed him her glasses and stretched. 

“They play until one of the Seekers catches the Golden Snitch.”

Shouyou watched Daishou making languid laps around the pitch. “How long does that usually take?” 

“It really depends. It could take-”

Tendou’s voice cranked up several decibels, “has the Ravenclaw Seeker, Akaashi, caught sight of the snitch? He appears to be diving into the thick of the Chasers. Not to be caught snoozing, Daishou follows him into the fray.”

Oikawa’s knee dug into Shouyou’s back. “Suga-chan, I can’t watch the Zig Zag team are going to-”

Tendou’s commentary overshadowed his words. “Ravenclaw Beaters, Hanamaki and Matsukawa, manage to coordinate their signature double hit as they send one of the bludgers straight for the diving Daishou.”

Daishou noticed the bludger’s trajectory and pulled up hard on his broom. One of the Miya twins appeared, then, giving the bludger a solid whack for good measure.

“Osamu sends the bludger back. It also looks like Akaashi is retreating back up above the Chasers. Was the whole thing a ruse to draw Slytherin’s Seeker into danger?”

Shouyou heard Iwaizumi ask Oikawa if he died or not. Oikawa replied with some nonsense, so Shouyou figured that, yes, he was alive.

Yachi, on the other hand, looked worse for wear. She handed her glasses to Yamaguchi, who passed them to Tsukishima. 

Tsukishima raised his eyebrows as if to say, really? But, Yamaguchi’s attention was on Yachi. “Are you feeling okay?”

She waved a hand at him, “I’m alright! That was just really scary, right?”

“Yeah, I thought he was toast for sure.” Yamaguchi’s face was pale, too, now that Shouyou was paying attention. 

As much as Ushijima began to score, Yaku let the quaffle in. The match wore on as the gap refused to close. Shouyou saw that most of his group was now searching the skies for a glint of gold. Akaashi tried once more to goad Daishou into chasing him, but by now, Daishou knew better. Instead, he put his back to the sun, making it difficult for Akaashi to spy on Daishou. 

At nearly the same time as Daishou, Shouyou spotted the Golden Snitch fluttering like a hummingbird beside Yaku’s ear on the far side of the pitch.

Daishou watched it for a moment as he slowly brought his broom down from the sky, inch by inch. Still, the snitch stayed glued to Yaku. 

Instinctively, Yaku swatted it. The movement caught Akaashi’s sharp eyes. He dove down without a moment's hesitation.

“Looks like Akaashi saw it first,” Oikawa breathed. He was on the edge of his seat. Which meant that, yet again, his knees were digging uncomfortably.

“He didn’t,” Shouyou said, “Daishou’s been- what is he doing-”

Tendou’s commentary cut mid sentence as all eyes fixated on Daishou.

“Daishou’s leapt off his broom. He’s in a freefall-”

Dropping like a deadweight, Daishou fell straight down. 

Ignorant of his plummeting teammate, Yaku swerved to avoid the encroaching Akaashi.

The Ravenclaw Seeker’s fingers nearly brushed the Golden Snitch as he reached out, but Daishou managed to wrap his hand around it as he continued his fall. 

Yachi screamed and buried her face into Yamaguchi’s shoulder. 

Shouyou covered his own eyes.

“The Miracle Boy has done it again,” Tendou yelled out to the crowd. “He’s caught Daishou! We’re just waiting for Professor Keishin to confirm the snitch has been caught.”

Shouyou peaked through his fingers and saw that Ushijima juggled flying his broom down the pitch and princess-carrying the fallen Seeker. 

Dazed, Daishou tucked his head against Ushijima’s chest and lifted the Golden Snitch into the air. Professor Keishin blew his whistle to signal the end of the match.

“Slytherin wins, 310-180. An exciting start to the quidditch season!”

Everyone except Yamaguchi and Tsukishima clapped and hollered, When Tsukishima stood, Shouyou noticed the bronze and blue of the crest on his robes.

On their way back to the common room to celebrate their win, Oikawa asked Shouyou about Daishou and the snitch.

“What did you mean when you said it wasn’t Akaashi that saw the snitch first?”

Shouyou waved goodbye to Yachi and she took off with Kaori and Kanoka. He turned back to Oikawa and said, “Daishou saw it first. He was trying to play it cool, I guess. It was hovering by Yaku for a really long time.”

Sugawara nearly jumped on Oikawa’s back, “did you have Yachi’s glasses on? They were so cool, you could basically see everything!”

Shouyou shook his head, “no, she was using them.”

Iwaizumi whistled from the front of the pack. “You’ve got some eyes, kid.”

Oikawa stuck his tongue out at the back of Iwaizumi’s head. “What are you an old man?”

“Stop acting shitty.”

Oikawa merely taunted him further, “I don’t think they let old men be Beaters on the Gryffindor team.”

“Yeah? I bet-” Iwaizumi began to retort, but stopped. He threw a hand up and stomped away. Kyoutani shot Oikawa a glare before taking off after Iwaizumi.

The mood dramatically dipped until they found themselves surrounded on all sides by Slytherins trying to cram into the common room at the same time. Shouyou instantly felt buoyed up by their celebration. 

Haiba Alisa was the first member of the team to roll through the door. She was already dressed in casual clothes, freshly showered after the grueling match.

“Gotta love the perks of being a prefect,” Konoha whined to Shouyou’s left.

Soon after her, the Miya twins arrived; Osamu carrying Atsumu on his back, still clothed in their quidditch uniforms. Everyone clapped for them, including Shouyou. 

Yaku entered the common room with his head bowed. Alisa called him to her side and she kept a strong hand on the top of his head until he felt like facing the rest of his house. Oikawa and Sugawara rushed to his side. They playfully punched him and snapped at his ears a few times, probably making fun of him for not noticing the snitch sooner. 

Shouyou took a seat at one of the couches around the empty fireplace. Most of the house was crowded around the entrance to the common room, awaiting the remaining players.

Some of the older students pulled out their wands and began to summon goblets and pumpkin juice to hand out to everyone. Shouyou accepted a goblet, but Osamu quickly plucked it out of his hand and replaced it with his own.

“Nu uh, that’s spiked,” he explained. 

Shouyou watched as he traded goblets once again, but this time giving Atsumu the spiked pumpkin juice.

Naruko, Ushijima, and Daishou arrived together a few minutes later. The twins rushed to Daishou and lifted him up.

“The man of the hour!” Atsumu yelled, his cheeks already turning red.

“The man of the hour!” The whole house yelled back.

Daishou still looked a touch shell shocked, but he gave the Slytherin House an uncharacteristically warm smile. 

“What kind of move was that,” someone in the crowd yelled.

Daishou visibly paled, “the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

“It’s okay though, our miracle boy caught you!” 

That one had to be Tendou, though Shouyou couldn’t see him from his spot on one of the couches.

“Don’t you ever feel embarrassed calling him that,” one of the seventh year girls asked.

“Usually,” Daishou said as the Miya twins placed him back on his own two feet, “I’d agree with you, but wow, I’d probably be a stain on one of the goals if not for him.”

Ushijma bristled a little under all the attention. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Daishou laughed. “That was a once in a lifetime fu-”

“Language,” Haiba yelled.

Daishou shrugged and went to talk with Haiba and the rest. After a few moments, Oikawa waved him over. 

Shouyou clutched his pumpkin juice to his chest and weaved his way over to the team.

“How did you like watching your first quidditch match,” Haiba asked. Shouyou watched Naruko detach himself from the group to join some other sixth years. Shouyou tried to believe it wasn’t because he had appeared.

“It was so cool! I totally thought Daishou was going to die,” Shouyou waved his goblet around in nonsense arcs.

Daishou groaned on the other side of Oikawa. “I thought so, too.”

“You know,” Oikawa began. His grin had taken a catlike quality to its sharpness. “Shouyou saw the snitch about the same time you did, Daishou.”

Daishou’s face lit up instantly, “did you?”

Shouyou felt his cheeks warming from all of the attention. He curled in on himself a little and nodded.

Daishou grabbed his shoulders, “that’s so amazing! Your eyes must be sharp! Has Professor Keishin clocked your broom speed yet? I bet your fast-”

Oikawa bursted into hysterics, leaning into Sugawara’s side.

Daishou and Shouyou turned to watch him, confused.

“You-” he giggled- “You owe me so much money, Suga-chan.”

Sugawara rolled his eyes, “no way, he still hasn’t said it out loud. I’m not counting it.”

Daishou let go of Shouyou and stared down the giggling pair. “You got something to say to me?”

Oikawa shook his head. “Not unless you have something to share.” He bit his lip; Sugawara whacked him on the back. They broke out into their stupidly loud laughter again. 

“I don’t think he’s gonna crack yet,” Sugawara said cryptically. 

“Were we watching the same game? He’s totally cracked,” Oikawa shot back. 

Daishou narrowed his eyes at the pair, but let them have their fun.

“I have no idea what they are losing their minds about.” He turned to Haiba, “do you know what they’re talking about?”

The picture of serenity, she took a long sip from her goblet. When she was finished she said, “yes, but I have money in the pot, too, so-” she dramatically mimed zipping her lips.

“Slytherins are the worst,” Daishou said, giving up and stomping away in search of a shower and his bed.

  
  



End file.
